President of Banco do Brasil is summoned to explain loans in the Senate

The CAE (Commission on Economic Affairs) of the Senate approved this Tuesday (22) a summons request from the president of Banco do Brasil, Fausto de Andrade Ribeiro. The director will have to explain the occurrence of political criteria for granting loans to states.

report of sheet showed that Banco do Brasil has been insuring the granting of credit to states commanded by political opponents of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The state of Alagoas, for example, appealed to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to obtain the resources, alleging that the bank abandoned the negotiations for granting the credit without further explanation.

The state governor is Renan Filho (MDB), son of Senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL), who was rapporteur for the Covid CPI and became one of the main enemies of Palácio do Planalto.

The senator from Alagoas was the author of the request, which was symbolically approved by the members of the commission. Unlike the ‘invitation’ modality, in cases of summons, the presence of the authority to provide clarification is mandatory, under penalty of committing a crime of responsibility.

The document does not explicitly mention the modality and only requires the “presence” of Fausto de Andrade Ribeiro. However, the application mentions the article of the Constitution that addresses the summoning of authorities.

In his application, Calheiros cites the report by sheet and affirms that the policy for the application of resources by official financial credit agencies, such as Banco do Brasil, should be aimed at reducing regional inequalities and not for political ends, based on “partisan-political discrimination”.

In addition to Alagoas, the state of Bahia —ruled by PT Rui Costa— also faces problems obtaining credit from Banco do Brasil. Renan states in his application that it is unjustifiable that this state does not receive resources, being the one that generates the most jobs in the Northeast region of the country, even in times of a pandemic.

“BB’s hostile and discriminatory treatment of Bahia is incompatible with this resumption of the state’s economy, even more taking into account the recent problems of public calamity experienced by the people of Bahia, requiring new investments in infrastructure works and housing construction” , states the text of the application.

The report of sheet showed that, in 2021, Banco do Brasil granted R$ 5.3 billion in credits to states. The detailing of this amount indicates that two-thirds of this amount went to allied governments or parties that support the current federal administration.

Among the parties that govern the most benefited states are the PP, which is part of the government base, as well as the PSD, MDB and PSDB, which declare themselves independent, but have congressmen who support Bolsonaro in congressional votes.

Banco do Brasil informed at the time that “all contracting of operations for the public sector strictly follows the legal requirements of regulatory bodies, credit assessment and BB’s business interests”.