The plenary of the TCU (Union Court of Auditors) determined this Wednesday (14) that the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) comply with a faster schedule for returning the contributions made by the National Treasury during PT governments. The transfers were considered irregular by the court of accounts.
The measure should mean the anticipation of R$ 88 billion in public resources that are still in the possession of the development bank – of which R$ 10 billion have already had the refund approved in recent weeks.
Since the end of 2021, the BNDES had been wrestling with the government in an attempt to delay the return of the remaining balance.
While withholding Treasury contributions, the bank distributed an average benefit of R$108,100 to its employees through its PLR (profit sharing) program, as revealed by the Sheet.
The value refers to the performance in the last year. In general, the figures are equivalent to three months of salary for each employee covered, totaling values ​​ranging from R$13,800 to R$257,300.
During the plenary vote, the ministers harshly criticized the possibility that public resources, financed through the issuance of debt, could be used as ballast for the payment of financial benefits to BNDES employees.
The thesis is shared among government technicians, but is often refuted by the bank and the association of employees.
“If it is true that the Union cannot make use of public banks’ own resources to implement its policies, it is equally inadmissible for financial institutions to increase their gains in defiance of legal rules and to the detriment of public coffers”, said the rapporteur, Minister Jorge Oliveira.
The president of the TCU, Minister Bruno Dantas, even proposed a precautionary measure to immediately suspend the accounting of these resources in the PLR ​​calculation basis. “This is a scandal, a bank the size of BNDES using resources from the Union, at the cost of the Union’s indebtedness [para custear PLR]”, said Dantas.
The plenary decided to wait for more detailed information on this aspect and ordered the technical area to open a specific process on the subject. Since then, however, ministers have shown support for the investigation.
“One cannot understand that from irregular transfers benefits can be obtained for the institution and for employees”, said minister Augusto Sherman. The president of the TCU, in turn, said that progress on this front could serve as an “incentive” for the bank to return Treasury resources.
The impasse over returns began in 2021, when BNDES claimed that it would have a loss of R$ 14 billion by accelerating payments and expressed the desire to set a slower pace for transfers than initially agreed with the Ministry of Economy. .
The TCU initially accepted the argument, understanding that refunds could not be made at the expense of loan contracts signed based on those contributions — even if the bank as a whole recorded a profit.
The National Treasury asked for reconsideration in January, but the process was stalled until August, when the Sheet published a report on the employees’ profit sharing.
According to government technicians, the information about the distribution of profits irritated Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) and sparked a broad articulation to resume returns.
The head of the economic team even publicly defended “unpedaling” the BNDES. “There is a machine and the machine likes to receive some advantages,” said the minister. “You can even pay the bonus, but you have to return the money.”
From 2008 to 2014, the federal government capitalized the BNDES with contributions that exceeded R$ 400 billion, in historical values. The measure enabled what became known as the policy of national champions, which financed large companies during PT governments.
This Wednesday, the rapporteur of the request for reconsideration said that “the TCU did not require that each of the contracts had a positive result” and clarified that, if the bank is profitable, the institution is fully capable of accelerating the transfer schedule.
In the first half of the year alone, the BNDES recorded a net profit of R$ 24.6 billion, 62.9% more than in the same period last year, in nominal terms.
The return of the bank’s resources should allow a reduction of one percentage point in public debt, according to government calculations.
From the new decision, the institution and the government must define a new calendar for the returns of resources.
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