It was with some relief that executives from the energy, oil and gas sector received Rodolfo Landim’s decision to refuse the invitation to occupy the presidency of Petrobras’ board of directors. Now, the suspense falls on the fate of consultant Adriano Pires, appointed to replace General Joaquim Silva e Luna in the presidency of Petrobras.
Despite the fact that the financial market celebrated the two government nominations in a new dance of chairs at the state-owned company, among energy specialists, Landim and Pires, would form at Petrobras a duo considered embarrassing, to say the least, as both are close to the Bahian businessman Carlos Suarez, who has strong interests in the gas sector.
Suarez owns Termogás, a company that controls piped gas distributors in regions not yet served by pipelines, such as the Federal District. He became best known with the S of OAS, which he helped to found and from which he later left.
One of its companies, Cigás (Companhia de Gás do Amazonas), has a legal dispute involving payment of PIS/Cofins with Petrobras that exceeds R$ 600 million.
The perception in the business sector, after the announcement of the double, is that political engineering was underway in the government and in Congress to give space to Suarez’s interests in Petrobras. The businessman from Bahia is also close to many politicians, especially from the center, including the mayor, Arthur Lira.
In this context, the discussion about fuel price policy, which justified the fall of General Silva e Luna, came to be seen as a mere smokescreen and avenged the perception that the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) went beyond all ethical limits by putting two men linked to Suarez into Petrobras at once.
Different interlocutors from the business sector stated that even the PT did not go to the extreme of handing over the state-owned company to such a private interest.
Landim is a longtime friend of Suarez. He was even investigated for financial connections with the businessman. Swiss authorities informed the MPF (Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office) in Brazil, as part of Operation Greenfield, that Termogás was trying to conceal transfers using third-party accounts. One of these accounts was from Lacy.
When announcing that he declined the invitation to take over the board of Petrobras, he said that he intended to dedicate himself to Flamengo. Those who follow the oil and gas sector, however, believe that there are other reasons.
In 2021, Landim was denounced by the same MPF for alleged fraudulent management of investments that would have caused losses to pension funds of employees of Petrobras, Caixa and Banco do Brasil. It is certain that he would be questioned for this in the assembly that would evaluate his nomination, and he would have given up fearing the disapproval of his name.
Questions about Adriano Pires continue. His connections with the Bahian businessman are also uncomfortable and became very evident after his persistent defense of thermals that interest Suarez.
His consulting firm, CBIE (Brazilian Infrastructure Center), also provides services to piped gas concessionaires, as well as private oil companies operating in the country and companies in the energy sector.
Pires had several meetings with the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) to defend the interests of thermal generation companies, a sector that is a client of the state-owned company.
Based on the agendas of MME authorities, the sheet identified 32 meetings between Pires and representatives of the ministry since 2019. In 14 of them, he was received by the Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque. The last was on Sunday (27), the day before the announcement of the change of command at the state-owned company.
On nine occasions when he was at the MME, Pires is featured on the official agenda as a member of the Abraget (Brazilian Association of Thermoelectric Generators) entourage. In two others, he accompanied executives from New Fortress Energy, which imports gas into the country.
Four of the meetings with Abraget were held between March and May 2021, a period in which Congress was debating the Eletrobras privatization MP. The final text sanctioned by President Jair Bolsonaro brought the obligation to purchase 8 GW (gigawatts) in energy from thermoelectric plants.
Criticized by the market as a measure that increases the price of energy, the obligation benefits not only investors in thermal plants, but also the natural gas market, by providing for the construction of plants far from the current network of gas pipelines, thus imposing billionaire investments in pipes.
This clause was placed in the text of the MP by deputy Elmar Nascimento (DEM-BA), who reported the project in the Chamber, and ended up being taken over by the government. For the market, it mainly benefits Carlos Suarez.
All of Pires’ work in defense of thermal plants in the Eletrobras privatization project is cited as a blemish on his resume by executives and specialists in the energy area, as there is a consensus that the use of these thermal plants makes no economic sense.
The close connection between Pires and Rubens Ometto, Cosan’s main shareholder, is also well-known and much commented on.
Earlier, in 2019, when the government and Congress were working on the New Gas Law, Pires met several times with Bento Albuquerque in the minister’s office in Rio de Janeiro. In one of them, in May, he took Luis Henrique Guimarães, CEO of Cosan, the company that controls Comgás.
According to people who participated in the discussions, Cosan was demanding that a gas pipeline designed for São Paulo be classified as a private distribution pipeline, a way of keeping it closed to competition.
The framework was approved by Congress and sanctioned last year, however, with a setback for Comgás, as it did not comply with his request. The company eventually managed to approve the measure in São Paulo, which led the ANP (National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels) to approve an appeal to the STF (Supreme Federal Court).
At the beginning of the Jair Bolsonaro government, Adriano Pires resigned from the nomination of his name to the CNPE (National Energy Policy Council) after the Public Ministry with the TCU (Union Court of Auditors) recommended the cancellation of his appointment.
“The problem was a conflict of interest, as he held a position as a counselor at the CNPE, with access to privileged information, and provided consultancy to private companies interested in CNPE decisions,” prosecutor Julio Marcelo de Oliveira told sheet.
“If he didn’t consult, there would be no problem. At the time he chose to leave the board and continue as a consultant. I imagine now that he will dedicate himself exclusively to the company [Petrobras].”
All of Pires’ links with these and other representatives of the private sector are already being questioned, as many believe that there may be insurmountable conflicts of interest.
On Wednesday (30), deputy Jorge Solla (PT-BA) announced that he would open representation on the case in the Public Ministry and demand a position from the TCU (Union Court of Auditors) signaling the tone of the ongoing discussion. “There is a blatant conflict of interest in the appointment of this lobbyist to preside over our Petrobras”, he argued.
On Friday (1st), the Public Ministry of the TCU filed a representation to investigate possible government interference in Petrobras with the change in command of the state-owned company. The piece, signed by prosecutor Lucas Furtado, also asks that he be appointed only after an investigation by the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) and the Ethics Commission on a possible conflict of interest, due to his performance in the sector.
PT deputies also entered the MME with a request for the Access to Information Law to obtain details on Pires’ relationships with companies in the gas sector.
Lawyer Mauro Menezes, who headed the Presidency’s Public Ethics Commission during Michel Temer’s government, says that there is no impediment for an executive or consultant working in the private sector to assume a position in the public sector or vice versa, counting that mechanisms capable of avoiding the so-called revolving door and the conflict of interest of this transit must be preserved.
The rules that formalize this guarantee, he recalls, are regulated in Law 12,813 and basically require that the untying be complete and indisputable. As Adriano Pires’ relationship with the gas sector is notorious, he recommends that accountability be detailed.
“It is publicly commented that his relationship [Adriano Pires} com empresas privadas é muito estreita, então, há uma zona cruzada perigosa, e ele deve deixar claro que se desligou de entidades e empresas que possam gerar conflito de interesse para o novo posto”, diz Menezes. “Ele precisa prestar contas imediatamente.”
A reportagem enviou ao CBIE perguntas sobre seus clientes, a atuação de Pires como consultor e sobre o que ele fará com sua participação na consultoria ao assumir a Petrobras, mas a empresa disse que não poderia atender porque ele está em perÃodo de silêncio.
Guimarães, da Cosan, disse que todas as suas reuniões com o ministro estão na agenda oficial e que discutia temas relacionados ao mercado de energia. Diz ainda não se lembrar de ter participado de reunião com Pires.
O MME não respondeu até a publicação desta reportagem. A Folha não conseguiu contato com o empresário Carlos Suarez.
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