Minister to explain exchange of favors with Império Serrano
The Minister of Culture received t-shirts from the samba school, which granted free access to privileged areas of the Marquês de Sapucaí during Carnival; according to the president of the association, the gift was a reward for resolving a pending issue with the Ministry; did they interrupt the samba?
247 – The Minister of Culture, Ana de Hollanda, who was the target of a manifesto from the artistic community demanding her resignation, is now facing another controversy. In the first episode, she was accused of favoring Ecad (the Brazilian copyright collection agency) in a maneuver by her ministry. Now, she has been summoned to explain to the Ethics Commission of the Presidency of the Republic the receipt of eight shirts from the Rio de Janeiro samba school Império Serrano, on the eve of this year's Carnival, which granted access to privileged areas of the Marquês de Sapucaí (Sambadrome) and the right to parade in one of the school's sections. In a report by the Correio Braziliense newspaper on March 13th, the president of Império Serrano, Jener Tornasso, said that the gift was a reciprocation for the minister's support in resolving a pending issue between the school and the ministry.
"It's a preliminary hearing, it hasn't been the opening of a formal process yet, because there aren't concrete facts or sufficient evidence. We will hear her and she will provide the relevant information," explained council member Roberto Caldas to Globo, who presided over part of Monday's meeting of the commission.
During Carnival, the minister responded, through her press office, that the gift was "a courtesy gift" and that the total value of the t-shirts did not exceed the R$ 100 limit stipulated in the Code of Conduct for Senior Federal Administration, which authorizes the receipt of gifts up to that amount.