Under investigation for a R$1 billion fraud, Guedes is acting against Operations Greenfield and Lava Jato.
About to testify about fraud in the pension funds of state-owned companies in Operation Greenfield, Paulo Guedes acts as a "guarantor" for the Presidential Palace with the Attorney General's Office in the proposal to end the task forces.
247 - By the end of the month, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes will have to testify in Operation Greenfield, which investigates fraud amounting to R$ 1 billion against pension funds. Guedes acts as a "guarantor" for the Presidential Palace in the Attorney General's Office's offensive to dismantle task forces, such as Greenfield itself and Lava Jato.
Guedes has been working behind the scenes with the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, to point out "excesses" in the operation, reports the... Forum Magazine.
The minister is reportedly using the investigation itself as an example, saying that prosecutors are abusing their power and acting politically to harm him and the government.
A behind-the-scenes confrontation is underway between those who were announced as the two "super-ministers" at the beginning of Jair Bolsonaro's government.
Guedes became a target of Operation Greenfield before taking over the Economy Ministry, when he was still leading Jair Bolsonaro's presidential campaign among business leaders in 2018.
According to the task force's investigations, Guedes colluded with executives to commit fraud in deals involving state-owned pension funds.
Jair Bolsonaro's "super-minister" raised at least R$ 1 billion from these entities in six years. He is also being investigated for allegedly issuing and trading securities without collateral or guarantees when negotiating, obtaining, and investing resources from seven funds.
Among the entities are Previ (Banco do Brasil), Petros (Petrobras), Funcef (Caixa), and Postalis (Correios), in addition to BNDESPar—the investment arm of BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development).
The transactions were carried out starting in 2009. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), there is "significant evidence that, between February 2009 and June 2013, directors/managers of the pension funds and the BNDESPar joint-stock company" colluded "with businessman Paulo Roberto Nunes Guedes, controller of the HSM Group."