Mining revenues guaranteed Minas Arena's profit, denounces congressman.

Mines 247- A report from the State Court of Auditors (TCE) considered the use of resources from the Financial Contribution for the Exploitation of Mineral Resources (Cfem) by the government of Minas Gerais in 2013 – that year headed by Antonio Anastasia (PSDB) – to pay the monthly installments of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contract for Mineirão with Minas Arena in 2013 to be wrong. The possible misuse of public money was presented this Tuesday (12), in Brasília, by state deputy Iran Barbosa (PMDB) at the CPI of the Football Mafia of the Chamber of Deputies. The diversion of Cfem resources may classify the public manager in the crimes of embezzlement and irregular use of public funds or revenues, in addition to civil action for impropriety and damage to the public treasury.

According to the parliamentarian, “the more than R$ 63 million diverted from the CFEM (Financial Compensation for Mineral Exploration) to guarantee the profit of Minas Arena were extracted from the State Environmental System (Sisema) and ended the monitoring of mining operations, which caused no less than 20 dam bursts in the State, among them, the biggest recent environmental disaster in Brazil, which is the Mariana disaster.” “This amount represents 40% of the resources of the State Secretariat for the Environment (Semad),” he said.

According to the TCE report, “credits of approximately R$ 131,690 million were authorized, R$ 81,167 million were committed (realized), and R$ 63,350 million were paid, using source 32 (Cfem), to the concessionaire Minas Arena.” The Management and Planning Information System (Sigplan) stated that the Minas Gerais government used these resources between March and June and in December 2013.

Created by the 1988 Federal Constitution, the CFEM (Financial Compensation for Mineral Exploration) should have its resources used for environmental recovery, infrastructure development in cities, and attracting new investments and activities. Priority is given to mining municipalities, such as Mariana, in the central region of the state, which had districts devastated by the collapse of the Fundão dam last November.

The chairman of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the Football Mafia, federal deputy Laudivio Carvalho (SD-MG), promised commitment to the investigations of the allegations presented by Barbosa. "Our legal team will examine the allegations and, if there is evidence of crimes, all documentation will be forwarded to the competent authorities," said Laudivio.

Other side

In a statement, the PSDB said that the funds were used in accordance with the law. "Unfortunately, Representative Iran Barbosa, once again, demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge of the law. According to Law 7.990/79 (article 8), CFEM funds cannot be used solely for 'debt repayment or permanent staff salaries'," the party explained, according to a report in the newspaper O Tempo.

The party also stated that the state's accounts were approved by the State Audit Court (TRE) and ratified by the Legislative Assembly. "At the time, the Court only recommended that the state cease payments to Minas Arena using CFEM funds – which was done," it added.

The TCE's technical report disputed this. "Even if the revitalization of Mineirão could be classified under the aforementioned scenarios, the use of CFEM for personnel payments and debt is expressly prohibited," the document states.

The concessionaire Minas Arena stated that it is not its responsibility to verify the origin of the funds for the installments received from the State government. "Minas Arena is unaware of the information presented by the deputy and is unable to indicate the origin of the funds used by the State of Minas Gerais to pay public counterparties, since the PPP contract does not establish such a link and the concessionaire does not interfere in the internal payment processes of the public authorities," it informed.