Curitiba, the national capital of nepotism.
After Governor Beto Richa, who attributed superpowers to his wife and brother, it's now the turn of the president of the Curitiba City Council, João Cláudio Derosso, suspected of favoring family members in contracts worth R$ 30 million.
247 – The governor of Paraná, Beto Richa (PSDB), caused unease in the state's politics in June by managing to get the Legislative Assembly to approve superpowers for his brother and wife, both secretaries in his government. A little over a month later, it is the turn of the president of the Curitiba City Council, councilman João Cláudio Derosso (PSDB), to become the target of accusations of favoritism towards family members. Representatives from six political parties, the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), and the Federação de Associações de Moradores de Curitiba (Femotiba) submitted a request to the Paraná Public Prosecutor's Office for an investigation into the institution's advertising contracts.
The companies under suspicion are Oficina de Notícias, owned by Derosso's wife, Cláudia Queiróz Guedes, and Visão Publicidade Ltda. The advertising contracts cost the state's public coffers R$ 30 million over the last five years. Among the parties requesting investigations are PT, PMDB, PSC, PV, PCdoB, and PDT. The request also has the support of several unions, including the Architects' Union of Paraná and the Bank Workers' Union of Curitiba. The group advocates for Derosso's removal from office if the accusations are proven.
The problems originated in 2006, when the companies Oficina de Notícias and Visão Publicidade won a bid to provide social communication services to the City Council. The detail is that only these two companies participated in the process – the bidding notice was published only in the Diário Popular, a newspaper with limited circulation. The initial contract stipulated a payment of R$ 5,2 million to each company, but addendums increased the initial R$ 10,4 million to R$ 30,1 million.
Read the article published by Brasil 247 on June 22nd:
247 - To speak of nepotism would be an understatement and would not accurately convey what is happening in Paraná. By approving superpowers for the newly created Secretariats of Infrastructure, Logistics, and Family and Social Development, the Legislative Assembly of Paraná has handed over 80% of the state's investments to the family of Governor Beto Richa (PSDB). This calculation is made by the opposition and has already been questioned by the government leader in the Assembly, Deputy Ademar Traiano (PSDB), but the discussion about the percentage becomes irrelevant given the fact that the heads of the two new and super-powerful secretariats are the governor's brother and wife.
Richa's brother, José Richa Filho, known as Pepe, was in charge of the Public Works Secretariat until this Tuesday. This secretariat was merged with the Transportation Secretariat to create the Infrastructure and Logistics Secretariat. The new structure will manage the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program) projects (total budget of R$ 5 billion) and will also administer the Detran (Department of Motor Vehicles) and the DER (Department of Highways). Richa's wife, Fernanda, will head the new Secretariat for Family and Social Development, formerly the Secretariat for Children and Youth, responsible for managing federal programs such as Bolsa Família and Brasil Sem Miséria (Brazil Without Poverty).
The opposition protested against the approval of the bill that established the new government configuration and compared the concentration of power in the new government configuration to that of the Middle Ages. And they didn't even need to go that far. Former governor Roberto Requião (PMDB), who led the state for the last eight years, kept at least six relatives in first and second-tier positions during his administrations.
Traiano countered the criticism by using as an example the most powerful couple in the Republic, the Chief of Staff, Gleisi Hoffmann, and the Minister of Communications, Paulo Bernardo. The state deputy said that "the PT gave two super-ministries to the same family." Richa Filho and Fernanda Richa have a reputation as good administrators in Paraná, but even if they perform well in their new super-positions, they are unlikely to be able to erase the traces of feudalism that have persisted in the Paraná government for years.