Lula’s main minister investigated by the Federal Police on suspicion of fraud during the pandemic – World

The strongman of Lula da Silva’s current government, Rui Costa, chief minister of the Civil House and one of the most important names in the Workers’ Party, (PT), is being investigated by the Federal Police on suspicion of fraud in the acquisition of respirators during the Covid-19 pandemic. The investigation, which was being carried out in secret but was leaked to the press this Wednesday, is in the final stages of collecting evidence and statements and puts Rui Costa at the center of the scandal.

According to the investigation, Rui Costa, then governor of the state of Bahia, who governed for two consecutive terms between 2015 and 2022, authorized the purchase of 300 respirators in April 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, from a company with no history or proven experience in this area, ignored all the deadlines and precautions that the public service should have and, in addition to everything else, authorized the full payment in advance of the voluminous acquisition. The deal cost the public coffers nine million euros and the owner of the benefited company, who agreed to collaborate with the courts in exchange for a reduced sentence, told the Federal Police that she had paid two million euros to a businessman who intermediated the transaction and facilitated the entire negotiation by claiming to act on behalf of Rui Costa.

Despite full payment in advance, no respirators were delivered, especially because the company was unable to do so. Of the nine million spent by the government of Bahia, only 1.8 million was recovered, returned by the businesswoman as part of the agreement signed with the courts.

Rui Costa, in addition to being governor of Bahia, was at the time president of the Consórcio Nordeste, a group of states in the Northeast of Brazil that came together to facilitate purchases and actions to combat Covid-19, and had full power for emergency acquisitions. He denies any involvement in the fraud, claims that it was not his place to act directly in businesses of this type and adds, as he often does in relation to the criticism he now receives as chief minister of Lula da Silva’s government, that it is all nothing more than political persecution.