The Second Chamber of the Court of Auditors of the State of Pernambuco unanimously blamed federal deputy Milton Coelho (PSB-PE) and former manager of the Operational Unit for the Coordination of Public-Private Partnerships Silvio Roberto Caldas Bompastor for an alleged overbilling of BRL 81.3 million in the construction works of the Arena de Pernambuco, in Greater Recife.
Located in São Lourenço da Mata, the stadium was one of the 12 venues for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Currently, it hosts sporadic games from the three main football clubs in Pernambuco.
The responsibilities are set out in the judgment of the alleged overbilling. The content was published in the Official Gazette of the TCE-PE on December 5th. Decisions were taken unanimously by the Second Chamber, made up of three directors, Dirceu Rodolfo, Carlos Neves and Carlos Porto.
wanted by SheetBompastor said he will not comment on the matter.
In a note, Coelho said he will appeal the decision of the Second Chamber of the TCE-PE. 🇧🇷[No recurso,] the impropriety of the decision will be demonstrated.”
The court of accounts deliberated on the matter in December 2019, but, at the time, the vote of the rapporteur, director Dirceu Rodolfo, was not made available.
In 2019, the trial was behind closed doors, with only qualified lawyers. The TCE-PE claimed, at the time, that the measure complied with a determination by the STF (Supreme Federal Court), because some parts shared in the file of the cases were running in secrecy of Justice.
The decision blamed the current federal deputy Milton Coelho “for having guiltyly contributed to the overbilling of R$ 81,306,446.60 (base date May 2009) in the construction work of the Arena”.
For the TCE-PE, as then Secretary of Government and chairman of the management committee “during the period of execution of the construction work of Arena Pernambuco, [Milton Coelho] omitted to provide the audit of this Court with the appropriate executive project of the said work, accompanied by the indispensable analytical budget of costs”.
Coelho is an auditor at the State Audit Court itself. In addition to being a federal deputy, he was vice-mayor of Recife between 2009 and 2012, state president of the PSB and chief of staff for Governor Paulo Câmara (PSB). The parliamentarian failed to be re-elected in 2022. He is currently part of the transition team of the president-elect Lula (PT) government.
In 2016, the Government of Pernambuco broke the partnership with the construction company Odebrecht for the concession of the arena.
The TCE, in the vote, reveals several alleged irregularities in the contract, signed by the then governor Eduardo Campos (1965-2014). According to the decision, the overpricing of the contract would have been R$ 128,574,828.79, with May 2016 as the base date for calculation.
The vote says that there were “weaknesses and inconsistencies in the feasibility studies and basic design of the PPP for Cidade Copa, identifiable in the opinion contracted by the State Planning and Management Secretariat with the consulting firm Guimarães Ferreira Consultores, neglected by the Operational Unit for the Coordination of Public-Private Partnerships – PPP Unit”.
It also points out “the imprecision and insecurity of the studies of demands and revenues, part of the feasibility studies of the PPP of Cidade da Copa, which were supported by potentially implausible market information, which pointed to the high risk of overestimation of the projected values”.
The TCE vote says that, at the time the Government of Pernambuco broke the partnership with Odebrecht, the state of Pernambuco still owed the construction company the amount of R$ 12 million.
“Even so, it resulted in a contractual balance favorable to the Concessionaire in the amount of R$ 12,458,860.72 (base date May/2016)”, says director Dirceu Rodolfo, in his vote.
The rapporteur also determined that the process be forwarded to the Federal Public Ministry, the Public Ministry of Pernambuco, the Superintendence of the Federal Police in Pernambuco and the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce, for knowledge and the adoption of measures.
The Arbitration and Mediation Center of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce was the private arbitration court chosen by the Government of Pernambuco and by Odebrecht during the signing of the stadium construction contract to adjudicate any impasses.
If there is an appeal and the decision is ultimately confirmed by the TCE-PE, those responsible may subsequently be the target of a public civil action by the Public Ministry.
In 2015, the Federal Police carried out Operation Fair Play (fair game, in Portuguese), which investigated the construction of the Pernambuco Arena. Subsequently, the case left the federal sphere and was sent to the State Justice of Pernambuco, where the records are currently.
OTHER SIDE
wanted by Sheetthe former manager of the Public-Private Partnership Coordination Operational Unit Silvio Roberto Caldas Bompastor said he will not comment on the matter.
In a note, deputy Milton Coelho said he will appeal the decision of the Second Chamber of the TCE-PE. 🇧🇷[No recurso,] the impropriety of the decision will be demonstrated since, if there was overbilling in the contract, which is not proven, I never directly or indirectly contributed to it, since when the bidding took place, the contracting and the beginning of the execution of the work, I exercised the vice-mayor of Recife, therefore, without any connection to the contract, and I only took over the presidency of the PPP Management Committee with 4 (four) months left for the conclusion of the construction works of the Arena”.
“During this short period there was no adjustment or contractual encumbrance on any grounds. Therefore, there is an obvious mistake in the decision. I emphasize that at no time did I refuse to provide clarifications or present documents that were in the possession of the Management Committee, in the short period of time in which I was president, a function I assumed as Secretary of Government”, added the deputy.
About the almost three years for the publication of the judgment, the TCE-PE said, in a note, that “the respective vote and judgments have a high degree of complexity and extension, due to the many processes involved”.
“After the trial, in January 2020, the rapporteur, advisor Dirceu Rodolfo de Melo Júnior, took over the presidency of the TCE and, soon after, the pandemic came, which paralyzed the processing of the processes, in view of the period of isolation that followed, making it impossible to proceed with the publication of said judgment”, said the TCE.
The court also alleged that it was necessary to digitize documents and retrieve audio and shorthand notes from the trial session. In addition, it justified that there was “the treatment of information shared by the STF, which is confidential, and which demanded careful work, including the implementation of a procedure to guarantee access to data to a restricted group of servers”.
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