In an official statement, the minister refutes the allegations.

The Minister of Sport has ordered the publication on the ministry's website of a series of clarifications regarding his administration. Orlando Silva refutes each of the accusations made against him – from the alleged bribe received in the ministry's garage to irregularities in the contracting of NGOs affiliated with the PCdoB, his party. The clarification that was missing was regarding the finding that the company owned by Orlando's wife, Anna Cristina Lemos Petta, received public funds. The Agência Estado news agency reports that it has documents showing a contract between Anna Petta's firm and an NGO that benefited from government funding.

The following is the full statement from the Ministry of Sport:

The Ministry of Sport and its head, Minister Orlando Silva, were the targets of a widespread smear campaign last week. The Ministry refuted the false information published daily, providing the media with sufficient clarifications to ensure the truth prevailed. During this period, the Ministry's main program, "Segundo Tempo" (Second Half), was the primary target. In defense of the public official's honor, the Attorney General's Office, on behalf of Minister Orlando Silva, filed a criminal complaint against the accusers João Dias Ferreira and Célio Soares Pereira for defamation in Federal Court. In fulfilling its duty to inform the public and restore the truth, the Ministry of Sport announces the following:

FALSE CLAIM: The government is requesting the return of R$ 49 million from the Sports Ministry, according to a report in the newspaper O Globo on October 19, 2011. The report leads to the conclusion that the government is asking the Ministry of Sports to return this money.

CLARIFICATION: The headline of the article presents misleading information that obscures the legally prescribed procedure for initiating a special accountability process. It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Sport to take the necessary steps to recover the funds through the initiation of a special accountability process. Therefore, the statement in the article, "GOVERNMENT ASKS FOR THE RETURN OF R$ 49 MILLION FROM SPORT," clearly aims to discredit the actions of the Ministry's managers.

All the processes reported in the article were initiated, as required by law, by this Ministry, aiming at the reimbursement of resources to the public treasury. It is important to emphasize that the accountability process follows this flow: (1) the Ministry, upon becoming aware of any fact that may result in damage to the public treasury, investigates the facts, identifies those responsible and quantifies the damage caused; (2) arranges for the registration of the default; (3) registers those responsible for the damage to the public treasury in the “VARIOUS RESPONSIBLE PARTIES” account of the SIAFI system; (4) forwards the process to the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) for analysis and opinion; (5) upon the return of the process with a favorable opinion from the CGU, the Minister of Sport issues a statement attesting to having taken cognizance of the facts and ordering the referral of the process to the TCU (Federal Court of Accounts).

Information obtained from the CGU website, relating to the period from 2002 to June 2011, indicates that 12.001 accountability proceedings were initiated within the Federal Public Administration. Of this number, 67 were initiated by the Ministry of Sports, representing R$ 50.443.649,57, which corresponds to 0,56% of the total number of proceedings and 0,73% of the total amount of resources collected. Therefore, the information presented in the article does not correspond to the figures available on the CGU website.

FALSE ARGUMENT: The Second Time Program is being operated by NGOs affiliated with the PCdoB (Communist Party of Brazil) and is intended to channel resources to the party.

CLARIFICATION: In the social agenda, the Second Time program is a landmark, serving nearly 2 million children. There are 232 agreements in effect, of which only 25 are with NGOs. The other 207 agreements are with state and municipal governments and federal universities. In 2011, a new feature was introduced: a Public Call that began in July and ended in September, through which new partners for the program were selected. And all of them will be public entities. This is a management decision. The ministry does not choose its partners based on ideological leanings, but is guided by technical decisions and the law, and is reducing the number of agreements with private entities. From 2006 to 2010, the percentage of beneficiaries in agreements with public entities jumped from 32,5% to 91%. In 2011, 100% of the beneficiaries of the agreements signed are public entities. No agreements were made with non-profit entities/NGOs.

FALSE ARGUMENT: There was favoritism in the bidding process for the purchase of shorts, polo shirts, and t-shirts for the Segundo Tempo program, in which the company Capricórnio Têxtil emerged victorious, presenting the highest price for the products.

CLARIFICATION: The bidding process is not yet closed. Therefore, it is not true that the ministry declared the "13th competing company" the winner. The process is currently in the appeals phase. The possible disqualification of companies is based on failure to meet technical and administrative requirements.

FALSE ARGUMENT: The Ministry signed an agreement with the João Dias Association of Kung-Fu, Sports and Fitness, even though irregularities had already been found in another agreement with the Brasilia Kung Fu Federation, presided over by João Dias.

CLARIFICATION: João Dias came to the Ministry in his capacity as a director of sports organizations with a project to assist underprivileged children, which met the requirements of the Second Half program. When the second agreement was signed, the accounting for the first was still under review. Once irregularities were confirmed, the agreements were terminated, and the minister took steps to initiate a Special Audit to compel João Dias to return more than R$ 5 million.

FALSE ARGUMENT: The ministry sent an official letter to the Military Police of the Federal District (DF) denouncing the irregularities committed by João Dias, and then backtracked, sending a second document requesting that the first one be disregarded.

CLARIFICATION: There is no other way to describe the media's handling of this information other than in bad faith. Let's look at the facts: in January 2008, a report from the ministry's technical advisory team listed the irregularities committed by João Dias and suggested the termination of the agreements.

On April 2, 2008, the Ministry of Sport responded to a request from the military police officer in charge of the investigation against João Dias and sent an official letter with information about the irregularities committed by the soldier in the agreements signed with the ministry. This document details the measures taken by the Ministry of Sport, including the demand for the return of funds transferred to organizations run by João Dias.

On April 7th, João Dias requested an extension of the deadline for submitting his financial report from the Ministry of Sports. (No media outlet made reference to this request.) To guarantee his right to defense, the Ministry asked the Military Police to disregard the previous official communication until the analysis of the financial report was completed. (This document was published and cited by the media as a result of pressure from João Dias.)

On August 19, 2009, after all deadlines had expired without anything being resolved, a new official letter was sent to the officer in charge of the investigation against João Dias. In this document, the Ministry reiterates the decision to initiate a Special Audit and forward the proceedings to the Federal Secretariat of Internal Control (NO MEDIA OUTLET MADE ANY REFERENCE TO THIS THIRD OFFICIAL LETTER, ALTHOUGH ALL OF THEM RECEIVED IT).

The investigation by the PM/DF (Military Police of the Federal District) concluded in early 2011.

FALSE ARGUMENT: The Ministry of Sports extended until August 2012 a R$ 911 agreement for the Second Time Program with the Institute for Child and Adolescent Development (Idec), a front entity that, despite having signed the contract in December 2009, never executed the project in the area surrounding the Federal District.

CLARIFICATION: The Ministry requested the termination of the agreement with the Institute for Child and Adolescent Development on October 13th, a week before the publication of the report in the Estado de São Paulo newspaper. To recap: The agreement was initially extended "ex officio" due to a delay in the release of the first installment (an obligation of the grantor stipulated in the regulations), and subsequently, by an Addendum and at the request of the entity, which was unable to complete the structuring procedures within the period stipulated in the agreement, but demonstrated commitment to overcoming the difficulties. Despite these efforts, the entity did not finalize the structuring within the 11-month period established in the Addendum, which is why the Ministry decided to terminate the agreement on October 13th, with publication in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU) scheduled for October 21st. This decision was published in the Official Gazette of the Union on October 21st. Idec is responsible for the full return of the resources from the first installment, duly adjusted, due to the non-execution of the project.

FALSE ARGUMENT: The fact that Campinas' Secretary of Sports, Gustavo Petta, is the brother-in-law of Minister Orlando Silva, both from the PCdoB party, facilitated the release of federal funds to the municipality. Campinas is receiving R$ 5,5 million for the renovation of its sports gymnasium (with a counterpart of R$ 1,5 million from the city hall). The city was also chosen to host a High-Performance Sports Center, with a transfer of R$ 15 million from the federal government. Campinas was also the city that received the most resources for modernizing sports infrastructure. In 2009, the year the secretary took office, he signed an agreement for R$ 7 million.

CLARIFICATION: Campinas has economic importance. The Campinas region is one of the most important in the country. A prominent technological hub. It has 2,7 million inhabitants distributed across 19 municipalities (IBGE data). Despite its recognized importance, it lacked any high-performance sports center, which prevented entry into the training and development circuit for high-performance athletes and participation in sporting events. The choice of Campinas resulted from a protocol signed in 2005 between the city's mayor, Hélio de Oliveira Santos, and the then Minister of Sport, Agnelo Queiroz. Gustavo Petta assumed the position of Secretary of Sport only in 2009.