The ministers understood that there was no irregularity in the economic-financial modeling that justified the suspension of publication of the edict that is being prepared by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES).
The concession of the public service of Lotex is part of the National Privatization Program (PND). The TCU monitors the privatization of Lotex in 4 stages. The first is the economic-financial modeling, which was analyzed yesterday (Wednesday).
The next steps that the TCU will follow are the verification of the announcement after publication, the monitoring of the acts of the commission of licitation, in the own procedure of the licitation, and a last analysis in the phase of the signing of the contract.
There was a discussion about whether the Caixa Econômica Federal could participate in the bid. The rapporteur minister, Aroldo Cedraz, understood that the fact that Caixa had given information that was used in the public notice did not prevent it from participating. It is up to the Ministry of Finance to decide whether or not the Caixa can participate in the bidding process.
While analyzing the proposal for a bid, sent by the government, the TCU did not identify any problem in the concession. The government announced last year that the Lotex concession will be for 15 years, with a minimum grant of US$ 167 million (R$546m).
In practice, the government does not have to wait for the TCU's approval to publish the edict, but in recent years it has adopted the practice of waiting for the court's analysis to do so.
During the judgment, the rapporteur of the case, Minister Aroldo Cedraz, stated that it will be up to the Ministry of Finance to decide whether or not to limit Caixa's participation in the auction.
According to the Minister, the Treasury sent the court an analysis that pointed out "competitive problem" in Caixa's participation. "The fact of operating similar services and having market data and even providing input for the preparation of studies does not constitute privileged information about privatization," Cedraz said.
Cedraz recommended, however, that the government study the possibility of including in the edict a rule that prevents the participation in the auction of persons who have held positions in the Caixa Econômica Federal in the last 180 days prior to the publication of the public notice.
At the next stage of the process, the TCU will analyze the edict already published. In his vote, Cedraz recommended that the government publish the decree that will regulate the lottery service before publishing the edict.
Source: GMB / Exame
