In the petition, obtained by local media Valor, Deputy Attorney General Lucas Rocha Furtado says that the financial institution is not clear about the control mechanisms of the draws - nor about the social application of the resources collected with the bets.
"Although these amounts are public and partly destined to the development of Brazil, we do not have a transparent system that allows for the social control of the bets made in the draws or of the amounts collected by the Caixa's lottery system," the petition says.
Furtado exemplifies that, under current rules, Caixa does not provide for public access, after the closing time of bets, all games made - which prevents the citizen from checking if the winning bet did in fact exist before the draw.
The PM also draws attention to the fragility of the online lottery system, such as Mega-Sena and Quina, which would require even stricter control methods from the financial institution.
"The lack of credibility for this service, in addition to raising concerns about Caixa's image and the reduction of funds that could later be used for social transfers, also puts in vogue the risk of fraud of payment of prizes to people which have not been drawn,” he warned.
In that hypothesis, he says, not only would Caixa's funds be damaged, but also those of the Student Financing Fund (Fies), a program to which prizes not redeemed by the winners are destined within 90 days.
The case has not yet been distributed to a rapporteur minister in the TCU.
Asked by Value, Caixa said that it has not yet been notified of the representation, ignoring the content of the MP's arguments.
"Regarding the administration of Brazil's Federal Lotteries, Caixa emphasizes that it acts with full responsibility, security and transparency in the process, with the greater objective of guaranteeing the social transfers that benefit the entire Brazilian society, in addition to distributing the awards," said the institution, in a note, stressing that the process is "fully audited".
According to the bank, the generation of the numbers drawn is done through a system periodically scrutinized by Inmetro and with certifications that prove the best practices in information security, "ensuring the availability, integrity, confidentiality and authenticity" of the draws.
Public service
The operation of the Federal Lottery is a public service of the Union. According to Caixa, last year more than R$ 6 billion (US$ 1.55bn) in collections with bets were passed on to areas such as health, education, safety and sports.
Source: GMB / Valor
