The senator and former Minister of Agriculture (-MS), from (PL-RJ) to the Presidency, is at the head of an institute that is sponsored by eight companies in the financial, fuel and infrastructure sectors, which do not reveal the amounts spent on the initiative.
These are activities that may be affected, positively or negatively, by various bills under discussion in Congress, over which the former minister has influence. She and the companies claim that the institute established internal rules to avoid situations of conflict of interest.
In its statutes, the Diálogos Institute lists its objectives as influencing the formulation of public policies to defend the free market, private property, individual freedoms, sustainable national socioeconomic development and the fight against social inequalities. To this end, it intends to carry out studies and research, in addition to producing lectures, events and conferences on these topics.
Tereza Cristina was elected president of the board of directors — an activity that, according to the statute, has no remuneration. The founders and owners are eight companies, and new memberships will only be accepted if approved by two-thirds of these companies.
The legislation does not prohibit parliamentarians from exercising this role on councils or boards, except if the companies receive benefits or contracts with public authorities or if they are state-owned. However, experts point to ethical risks and defend the need for transparency to avoid conflicts of interest.
Most of the founders are linked to the senator’s main area of activity, agribusiness, such as Tereos Açúcar e Energia, Cargill, Yara Fertilizandos, Corteva Agriscience, Cocamare and FS Indústria de Biocombustíveis. Also included are Itaú Unibanco, from the financial system, and Hidrovias do Brasil, from the logistics and port sector.
The value of the companies’ monthly payments is not included in the documents registered by the institute at the registry office, but it at least funds the hiring of a director with a salary of R$50,000 and the organization of events and trips. Anyone who defaults for more than three months loses the right to vote on decisions.
A Sheet questioned the companies, the senator and the institute itself about the value of the monthly contribution, but everyone refused to disclose the information. On the website, there is a page about transparency, but no financial statement. The information that eight companies are founders and sponsors of the institute was published on the portal only after the report searched for them.
The social status, obtained by the Sheet in a registry office in Brasilia e subsequently published by the institute on its website, allows the entity to increase its revenues through donations or hiring to carry out studies and research and provide technical support to interested parties. According to the document, all money must be reinvested in the institute, which is non-profit.
Although she is formally just president of the board of directors, the senator is the public face of the institute, she was the main speaker on the day of its launch and acknowledged, at the event held in February in a rented space in a hotel in Brasília, that she was also its creator.
“When choosing our supporters, our collaborators, this was discussed very broadly”, he told the audience, about the intention to go beyond the parliamentary debate. “When I leave, I will dedicate myself 100% to this institute. I already warn you that it will become a foundation.”
Since it was founded, the institute has only held a single event since its launch in Brasília. This Tuesday (9), he held a closed seminar for guests on the new global geoeconomy.
Searched separately by Sheetthe eight sponsoring companies chose to respond together. “Companies support the Diálogos Institute in line with the purpose of stimulating technical, plural and well-founded debate on structuring themes in the country, aiming to qualify public and private decisions”, said the institute’s director-president, Inácio Muzzi, in a statement.
He also says in the note that the institution has no purpose or political-party ties and that the founding members do not identify a conflict of interest in sponsoring an institute linked to a parliamentarian. The senator was chosen, according to him, “due to her technical trajectory and capacity for dialogue in collegiate and independent governance, without implying party ties.”
In addition to Muzzi, the institute’s directors are Isabella Martins do Carmo, director of Government Relations at Cargill, and civil engineer Jacyr da Silva Costa Filho, partner at the consultancy AgroAdvice and financial director at Fiesp (Federation of Industries of São Paulo). Four companies appointed vice-presidents: Hidrovias do Brasil, Tereos, Corteva and Yara.
On the day of the institute’s launch, Tereza Cristina said that the entity does not have the purpose of defending private interests in Congress and that it sees its actions as an individual initiative.
“We are not going to lobby. We are going to discuss general issues that are of interest to the country”, she stated at the time, stating that lobbying for the sector is already carried out by the Agricultural Parliamentary Front — of which she is vice-president. “I want to sit on the institute’s board without the hat of a senator. I want to sit with the hat of a Brazilian who is very concerned about the direction of our country,” she stated.
HAS Sheet the senator said in a note that she had been planning the creation of the institute, founded in September 2025, for at least three years, and that the statute has safeguards and even punishments for possible conflicts of interest. He also highlighted that the work is voluntary.
“No type of business lobbying is allowed and there is no link between the topics discussed — always approved by a majority — to the legislative agenda, much less to the parliamentary mandate, exercised in a highly republican manner,” he stated.
Tereza Cristina is one of the names mentioned by allies as Flávio’s vice-president, but she has said that she does not want to occupy that space on the ticket and is looking for support to preside over the Senate in 2027, in case of an opposition victory.
