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According to TCU, there are indications of fraud in paving companies in bids that took place between the years 2019 and 2021
According to the Audit of the Federal Audit Court, the TCU, there are indications that an alleged cartel took place between paving companies that would have defrauded, at least, R$ 1,127 billion in bids of the Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco and do Parnaíba (Codevasf), during the current government, in the years 2019 and 2021.
The examination carried out by the TCU also indicated the formation of a “partnership” between the cartel participants, in bids that took place between 2019 and 2021. According to the TCU, possible frauds involve the preparation of fictitious proposals, the suppression of proposals and the combination of rotation between the companies involved. Such organization takes place both at the headquarters of Codevasf, in Brasília, and in the regional superintendencies.
The audit was inspected by the TCU in the last session and the rapporteur of the case, Minister Jorge Oliveira, recognized the evidence of collusion, but claimed that it is still not possible to prove the existence of fraud in all the documents analyzed. Thus, the minister denied the granting of a precautionary measure to prohibit Codevasf from carrying out new contracts linked to the suspected bids.
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Minister who analyzed collusion formation was appointed by the current president
Indicated by the current president, Minister Jorge Oliveira was against the understanding of the technical area that inspected the facts about the possible fraud. According to court technicians, there is also the participation of bidders with no experience in works of the type being tendered, without the capacity to prove the technical qualification requirements demanded in the public notices, without the minimum financial capacity required in the public notice and also companies that offered proposals for works more than 2 km from their addresses and did not offer bids in auctions of the same type in their own state. Finally, there are also bidders with a number of employees incompatible with the execution of the object of the competition.
Two of the four companies suspected of participating in the scheme have a share capital of less than 5% of the total contracted, and a third has a share capital close to 10%.
Codevasf's version
In a note, Codevasf states that the process initiated by the TCU is investigating a possible fraud, having nothing to do with the issue, but with the suspected companies. It also states that the supervisory bodies are responsible for the investigation and that the TCU may, at the end of the process, hold the aforementioned companies responsible or not and that the purchases made by Codevasf are all carried out in accordance with the applicable rules, “safer and more transparent way to promote an electronic trading session at a lower price”, according to the Codevasf. And, finally, she also declares that she has a firm structure of government and that she collaborates greatly with the work of the supervisory bodies, and she also wants to know about the facts.
