Brossard highlights the role of BNDES in Eike's crisis.
A columnist for Zero Hora says that "the financing of the group by the institution, under conditions that bankers could not ignore, does not reflect well on the government. The bank's management cannot be so generous to one of the world's largest fortunes without due consideration."
247 – Columnist Paulo Brossard, from Zero Hora, criticizes the BNDES's stance towards Eike Batista's group, which is currently mired in a crisis that has even been mocked by US publications. According to him, the financing granted leaves the government in an uncomfortable position. Read more:
The crux of the matter.
The reader may find it strange that I am returning to a problem that has been unfolding dramatically, if not pathetically, originally of a private nature, although with public repercussions. It is precisely for this reason that I dare to address the Eike Batista case.
A businessman, possessing one of the world's largest fortunes, with powerful creativity. Wherever he went, companies were born, grew, gained a name on the stock exchange, and the results were celebrated in advance; in short, a promising future, all the more significant when the situation showed signs of recession.
Suddenly, a kind of earthquake struck that world of wonders. Without going into details, based on what has been reported by all media outlets, I lament the disastrous failure of the economic venture, lauded yesterday, scourged today. Newspapers did not hesitate to call it the biggest swindle of the century, and the businessman's fortune became a shadow of its former self, revealing the ease with which dreams can be sold. Obviously, success did not arise in a vacuum, but within a context where a banking system is relevant. Furthermore, it is in the nature of a banker's profession to possess specific qualities, because risk is part of their daily routine, and they cannot be the last to know about the catastrophe. To the banking system, it seems that nothing unusual tarnished the billionaire's singular splendor. I cannot say more because business is not reported, "secrecy is the soul of business." But there is another aspect. The state-funded financial system in our country is undeniably important, even financing projects in South American countries and Cuba, for example. It has also been reported that the Eike Batista Group, now in notorious decline, is one of the major beneficiaries of BNDES financing.
The Bank is intended to be an instrument of the federal government to foster the economic and social development of the country; its nature and particularity are inseparable from its origin and purpose. Even now, the Minister of Finance has announced a reinforcement of the BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank). The financing of the Eike Batista group by the BNDES, under conditions that bankers could not ignore, does not reflect well on the government. The Bank's management cannot be so generous to one of the world's greatest fortunes without due consideration. The same can be said, mutatis mutandis, in relation to Petrobras, which has gone through, is going through, and will continue to go through enormous difficulties. Brazil's largest company did things it shouldn't have done: the purchase, under onerous conditions, and the sale, under pernicious conditions, of a refinery in American territory. The abuse was so blatant that, as far as I know, no one has dared to defend the trafficking.
The sandcastle crumbled overnight. I don't know if private banks didn't suffer huge losses, but BNDES, having been the main financier of Eike Batista's group, would be the most affected. Incompetence? Irresponsibility? Reckless jingoism? Like the Petrobras case, the BNDES case is so shocking that it warrants less than decorous deductions. That's the crux of the matter.