Federal prosecutors open investigation into government spending related to the pandemic.
Data from the Ministry of Health itself shows that the Bolsonaro government used only 6,8% of the resources available for direct actions to combat the virus.
247 - The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) has ordered the opening of an investigation to examine how the Ministry of Health used the budget allocated to combat the new coronavirus.
According to the ministry itself, as of May 27, only 6,8% of available resources had been spent, and transfers to states and municipalities were drastically reduced starting in the second half of April.
On social media, Bolsonaro says that deaths from Covid-19 are unavoidable and blames governors for high unemployment and the economic crisis. He once again downplayed the illness. by stating that "there's no need to be afraid, but be careful"
The investigation was initiated following the receipt by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office of a complaint containing information from a study based on data from official Ministry of Health websites. The document cites as examples the website for Monitoring Federal Expenditure on Combating Covid-19 and the dashboard showing budget execution related to actions to combat the virus, both available on the ministry's portal.
Amid a pandemic that has claimed more than 80 lives, the study highlights the potential inefficiency of the federal government in addressing the consequences of COVID-19 in the health sector in at least three aspects: low utilization of resources allocated for expenses – especially those directly applied by the Ministry of Health – delays in releasing funds to other federative entities, and the federal government's small share of health funding in relation to the total financing assumed by the federative entities.
The inquiry will investigate the reasons why the federal government has not been using the available budget funds to combat the pandemic, as well as the reasons why transfers to states and municipalities have apparently been withheld.