Panel SA: Lula’s government evaluates renegotiation of Lava Jato leniency agreements

The hard core of the president-elect, Lula, is considering the possibility of renegotiating all the leniency agreements resulting from the Lava Jato operation, which investigated corruption schemes by contractors in public works.

Discussions are being led by the future Chief of Staff, Rui Costa. The idea, according to reports from those who participated in the conversations, is to oblige construction companies that today pay fines resulting from leniency, to carry out civil works – daycare centers, schools, hospitals, highways, ports, among other projects– with the resources that they currently deposit in the bank account. of the Union.

The portfolio of projects would be defined by the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) and the inspection of the progress of the works would be in charge of the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União). The estimated value is around R$ 10 billion.

To take this proposal forward, it will be necessary to renegotiate the agreements. For this reason, one of the names suggested for the position of controller general of the Union is that of lawyer Vinicius Carvalho. He was president of Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense), one of the first bodies to adopt leniency as a working tool in the fight against cartels.

In the opinion of one of the technicians consulted, for contractors, exchanging the payment of fines for carrying out works will be a good deal because they will be able to unlock their access to credit – currently limited due to the weak portfolio of projects.

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