What was Fabio Barbosa doing in Brasília?
The president of the Abril group was in the capital yesterday; his thorny mission: to prevent the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Carlos Cachoeira from summoning Roberto Civita; at the publishing house responsible for Veja magazine, there are fears that he will suffer a humiliation similar to that of Rupert Murdoch.
247 - With the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) officially established and installed this morning by the National Congress, political, business, and media lobbies are beginning to circulate. Yesterday, executive Fábio Barbosa, former president of Santander and currently president of the Abril group, which publishes Veja magazine, was seen in Brasília. Well-connected across all parties, having also been president of the powerful Febraban (Brazilian Federation of Banks), Fábio Barbosa went to Brasília with a delicate mission: to convince leaders of the National Congress to prevent the CPI from summoning businessman Roberto Civita, president of the Abril group.
The task is very difficult. First, because there are strong links between Veja magazine and the gambling kingpin Carlos Cachoeira's scheme. Besides the 200 phone calls between the gambling kingpin and journalist Policarpo Júnior, several reports published by the magazine point to a connection between the gambling kingpin's illegal wiretaps and the publication's scoops. Second, because Civita has accumulated powerful enemies in recent years. In addition to former president Lula, who will do everything to ensure the media mogul is summoned, Senator Renan Calheiros, who will play an important role on the commission, was featured on several consecutive covers of the publication in 2007 and 2008. Veja worked for his expulsion.
At Abril, there are fears that Roberto Civita will suffer a humiliation similar to that of Australian Rupert Murdoch, who last year had to testify before the British Parliament because of wiretaps published by the News of the World newspaper, which ended up being shut down. Last week, a faction within Abril's leadership advocated for the removal of journalist Policarpo Júnior as a way to stem the damage and avoid summoning Civita. However, Veja decided to go on the offensive and, in its latest edition, denounced an alleged attempt by the government to muzzle and silence the free press in Brazil.
#lookatthebandit
In the same cover story, Veja also argued that journalists should associate with criminals in order to gain access to information of public interest. This position was challenged by journalist Janio de Freitas two days ago and today defended by Professor Eugenio Bucci, who is a friend of Roberto Civita and an occasional consultant for Abril.
The situation is so serious that yesterday the most discussed topic on Twitter worldwide concerned the hashtag #vejabandida (Veja is a bandit). The topic is popular. For this very reason, it is unlikely that parliamentarians will back down on their request to summon Roberto Civita. This is especially true because it will be inevitable to investigate Veja magazine's connection to Cachoeira's wiretaps, as well as the recent Hotel Naoum films.
Furthermore, former President Lula has already made his position clear. The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry will have to be carried out, "no matter who it hurts."