Today at the head of the Ministry of Education, Victor Godoy Veiga told the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) that, at the time he held the position of executive secretary of the portfolio, he tried to warn the then Minister Milton Ribeiro about what he called “unnecessary” of pastors Arilton Moura and Gilmar Santos within the scope of the MEC.
The information is contained in the CGU report on alleged irregularities in Ribeiro’s management at the MEC. as showed the CNN This Sunday (26), the role of the pastors in the then minister’s office was pointed out as a reason for the dismissal of Ribeiro’s advisors.
In a series of testimonies to the control body, officials from Ribeiro’s administration reported that the role of the pair of pastors as spokespersons for the MEC was endorsed by the then minister.
According to the CGU, the current minister stated in his testimony that Ribeiro had told him that his intention was to use the “national scope” of the pastors to assist in contacting the mayors.
To the CGU, Veiga stated that he tried to dissuade Ribeiro from this idea, saying that this mediation was “unnecessary”, since the parliamentarians would already fulfill this role, but he was unsuccessful. “He argued that the minister himself, on several occasions, would have stated in his speeches at the ministry’s events that the mayors would not need intermediaries in their dealings with the MEC”, says the CGU document.
On the 3rd, in an interview with the policy analyst at CNN Renata Agostini, Veiga stated that, still in the post of executive secretary, as soon as he received an internal complaint about the role of pastors in the MEC, he communicated to Ribeiro and recommended that the then minister no longer have contact with the duo. THE CNN Veiga stated, however, that Ribeiro found them again.
Also according to the report from the control body, the current minister confirmed that the pastors were free to act in the MEC and that the team that advises Arilton and Gilmar also helped to set up events at the ministry’s headquarters in Brasília, including authorizing the entry of participants from the building’s premises.
In a statement to CGU, Mychelle Rodrigues de Souza Braga, head of the agenda advisory in the minister’s office, said that “no other person or authority was in those premises with the frequency of Pastor Arilton”.
Mychelle also said that Ribeiro granted pastors the prerogative to act in a similar way to parliamentarians, requesting the minister’s agendas with mayors in various locations across the country. According to the advisors at the time, the role of pastors as spokespersons for the MEC was endorsed by the minister.
Milton Ribeiro’s defense says that the former minister “did not commit any wrongdoing, regardless of the sphere of investigation”.
“Minister Milton Ribeiro has always guided his life, private and public, by ethics, honesty and rectitude and has never committed any deviation or criminal offense within or outside the exercise of the public office he held”, says the note from the former’s lawyers. minister.
The note also says that, when he became aware of the allegations, the then minister “communicated the fact to the CGU, requesting a prompt investigation and activation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office”.
THE CNN contacted the current Minister of Education, Victor Godoy Veiga, and is awaiting a response.
Source: CNN Brasil
