Caixa paid for works in Pedro Guimarães’ mansion

Caixa Econômica Federal paid for works on the mansion where the now ex-president of the bank Pedro Guimarães lives in Brasília (DF).

The interventions were carried out in July 2020 by four employees of a company that has contracts with the public bank to carry out maintenance services in its buildings and branches.

THE Sheet spoke with two of the employees of EMIBM Engenharia and had access to images of the work being carried out. According to reports from Caixa servers, the cost was approximately R$ 50 thousand.

Guimarães’ lawyer, criminalist José Luis Oliveira Lima, confirmed the improvements were made and said that they were authorized by the security sector after alleged threats received by the bank’s former president.

Caixa says that the works are related to the safety of the then president and are provided for in internal rules.

The report also had access to a conversation via a messaging application in which the then executive director of Logistics and Security at Caixa, Simone Benevides de Pinho Lima, authorizes the displacement of EMIBM employees to carry out work at Guimarães’ house.

Sought, Benevides said that everything happened “within the legal process” and for “security” reasons. “It was at the time of the threat of emergency aid, of the forgers, who published the threat on the internet.”

At the same time of the works, the Federal Police opened an investigation to investigate a hacker attack on the president after the bank strengthened security measures to avoid scams in the payment of emergency aid. One person was arrested in September as part of the investigation.

The house was rented by Guimarães after the executive left an apartment held by the bank in a luxury hotel in Brasília. The residence is on the edge of Lake Paranoá, in the most valued region of the city, and has a soccer field. The garden whose lighting was paid for by Caixa extends to the shores of the lake.

EMIBM has had contracts for engineering services with Caixa for about 25 years, obtained through public tenders.

The last contract, from June 2020, has an estimated value of BRL 16.3 million. Of this total, R$ 4.9 million has already been executed.

Asked about the work carried out on the mansion in Lago Sul, one of the company’s employees, electrician Francisco Adriano, replied that it was an improvement by Caixa, but said that more details could be provided by Eliziário Filho, another employee of the company hired by the bank.

When contacted, Elizario Filho said that, if I am not mistaken, 11 posts were installed. “There used to be a fence, they removed the fence and it was open to the lake. EMIBM hired me, we provide services for him. For me, nothing with Caixa. I didn’t even know it was from Caixa.”

According to reports from Caixa employees, before installing the light poles, Guimarães had already tried to pass on to the bank another expense involving the property.

As the house did not have a fence to separate it from the lake shore, Guimarães tried to transfer the bill for installing the structure to the bank, but the responsible department denied the request. At the time, he was not commanded by Simone Benevides.

Pedro Guimarães left Caixa last week after the website Metrópoles revealed accusations of several cases of sexual and moral harassment practiced during his management.

In addition to him, vice president Celso Leonardo also resigned from the bank on suspicion of covering up cases of harassment.

Guimarães was considered one of the closest assistants to Jair Bolsonaro (PL), being the record holder for participation in the president’s lives. There have been 28 broadcasts since the beginning of the current management. The last was the week before his resignation.

Guimarães was replaced by the former special advisor to the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, Daniella Marques. The new head of Caixa promised to hire an external consultancy to investigate cases of harassment.

This will not be the only investigation into the matter, as the MPF (Federal Public Ministry), the MPT (Public Ministry of Labour) and the TCU (Union Court of Auditors) have also initiated procedures to investigate what was happening in the bank under Guimarães. .

The MPT carried out an inspection at the financial institution’s headquarters in Brasília on Monday (4). The institution will also ask the MPF to share evidence obtained in its investigations.

Other side

In a note, Caixa states that it provides “personal security devices to employees and managers exposed to a risk situation”. According to the bank, the decision to provide the employee with these benefits is made “through an adequate assessment of the degree of criticality involved and the compatibility of the instruments necessary for the prevention of incidents”.​

Lawyer José Luis Oliveira Lima, who represents Pedro Guimarães in the case, said that “the decision to install light poles in the house occupied by Pedro Guimarães was taken by Caixa’s security department at a time when the executive and his family, including his children, were being threatened”. According to him, “the funding for this initiative followed all the governance rules provided for in the institution’s statute”.

Lima also added that Guimarães paid “with his own resources all the expenses of renting the house in Brasília, without making use of funds from Caixa as housing assistance”.

EMIBM Engenharia said in a statement that it will not comment on its works due to confidentiality clauses in the contract.

“We have as one of the most important regulatory guidelines, Compliance EMIBM, always complying with the laws, complying and enforcing the internal and external regulations imposed on the institution’s activities”, said the company.