The initial idea of the deputy was to summon Paulo Guedes, but, at the suggestion of the government itself, the call changed to an invitation that was directed to President of Caixa. With the non-attendance of Pedro Guimarães, the minister was summoned "to discuss with parliamentarians, entities, representatives of civil society and employees of Caixa some measures of his administration that tend to weaken the bank and its role in economic and social development of Brazil."
Paulo Guedes should explain the privatization of profitable and strategic areas of the Caixa Econômica Federal, like the Lotteries; the withdrawal of the institution from the Curator Council of the Guarantee Fund for Length of Service (FGTS); the reduction of Caixa's employees through the Voluntary Termination Plan (PDV) and the non-convening of those approved in the tender; the accounting maneuver to cover expected losses with defaults in the real estate financing portfolio; the devaluation of real estate repossessed in administrative operations; the appointment of a ‘personal trainer’ for the position of consultant and the hiring to the vice-presidency of Third Party Resources of a professional without the technical certifications to act in the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM); among other related topics.
The deputy asked for the summons on the basis of news that came out in the media saying that the government had planned to hold the auction of Lotex on April 26. She fears that action was an accounting maneuver that aims to accelerate a possible dismantling of the CEF to make it weaker and more deficient and thus pave the way for the privatization of strategic sectors of the institution.
Caixa is the only 100% bank in Brazil with branches spread from north to south of the country. In 2017, Caixa's lotteries raised almost R$ 13.9 billion (US$ .7bn). Of this total, about R$ 5.4 billion (US$ 1.45) were transferred to the social programs of the Federal Government related to social security, education (Fies Student Funding), sports (Ministry of Sport, Brazilian Olympic Committee, Brazilian Paralympic Committee and football clubs), culture (National Culture Fund), security (National Penitentiary Fund) and health (National Health Fund), which corresponds to 37.1% of the total collected. If the Instant Lottery be privatized, the social transfer should be downgraded to 16.7%.
In addition, in 2018, Fies received R$ 730 million (US$ 195m) to finance higher education courses for students, mainly from low-income families. For the National Culture Fund, the onlendings were approximately R$ 387 million (US$ 104m).
Source: GMB
