Panel SA: Former advisor to the Civil House of Palocci and Dilma denounced the purchase of armored vehicles from the Army to the TCU

After blocking the billion dollar purchase of almost a hundred armored vehicles by the Army, Charles Capella de Abreu represented against the deal with the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União), where the complaint awaits processing.

Capella de Abreu was a servant in the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic between 2007, in the management of former minister Antonio Palocci, until 2016, after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.

The former servant of the Civil House today works with real estate business in Brasília and São Paulo and acts as a consultant in the institutional area for RIG Capital Institutional and Government Relations. Alberto dos Santos Moreira, one of the lawyers who signed the lawsuit, is his partner at RIG.

To Panel SA, Abreu denied having acted at the request of the PT or moved by any political connotation. “This was my initiative, it has nothing to do with the elected government,” he said. “This fact [a compra dos blindados] it bothered me a lot for the moment we are living [restrições orçamentárias]🇧🇷 It’s an isolated action, I’m not in government, I’m not in transition, and I don’t want to go back to government.”

The purchase agreement for the 98 Centauro II armored vehicles would be signed this Monday (5) between the Army and Iveco Defense Vehicles, winner of the competition. However, the Court granted an injunction suspending the transaction until the merits are judged. It would involve a total of R$5 billion in renewing 5% of the Brazilian tank fleet.

The request for suspension was made to Justice on Friday (2). However, with Brazil playing in the World Cup, the Judiciary was on duty. The judge who received the case declined to review it urgently.
The lawyers then appealed to the TRF-1 (Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region) to suspend the purchase of armored vehicles.

In the action, federal judge Wilson Alves de Souza agreed with the initial request and considered that the Jair Bolsonaro government is promoting cuts and contingencies in education and health funds in the amount of R$ 3 billion.

According to him, the purchase of armored vehicles can be considered illegal within this social spending containment scenario and shows a lack of common sense.

Under the contract that would be signed, the government could acquire a total of 221 armored vehicles by 2037. The judge considered that there is no need for this equipment at the moment and that the government [com a compra] as if the country were in “imminent or actual war”.

In the action, Capella de Abreu claims that the decision to purchase the tanks should be decided by the next government and not by Bolsonaro, who is at the end of his term.

“It is necessary to settle the dust and leave the elected government the right to assess whether this purchase meets Brazil’s needs or not,” he said.

When contacted, the Army sent a report from General of Division Julio Cesar Palú Baltieri. He explains that the “process of obtaining [dos blindados] been conducted for years, involving technical studies, market surveys and strategic analyses” to meet the criteria established by the armed authority.

The Centauro II vehicles would replace part of the fleet of EE9 armored vehicles, used by the Army for more than 40 years and which reached the end of their useful life.

This would be an initial contract, with the delivery of two armored samples to the Army Evaluation Center. After approval of the prototypes, the 98 vehicles would be purchased, paid for over 15 years.

Julio Wiziack (interim) with Paulo Ricardo Martins and Diego Felix