Flights of the couple 20 are headed to the Ethics Council.

247 – The word “clean-up” remains forbidden in the Planalto Palace, but the turbulence in the Esplanade of Ministries has not yet been overcome. This Tuesday, at 11:30 am, the PPS will file a formal request with the Ethics Committee of the Presidency of the Republic asking the committee to issue a statement on the conduct of the Minister of Communications, Paulo Bernardo.

He is the target of accusations involving the alleged use of aircraft belonging to businessmen, possibly beneficiaries of deals made with the Public Administration, according to Paraná columnist Fabio Campana. Bernardo may have flown on the private jet of the construction company Sanches Tripoloni, which carried out works in Maringá, the electoral stronghold of Paulo Bernardo and Gleisi Hoffmann, with resources from DNIT – the minister says he does not remember whether or not he flew on the company's King Air.

The document, signed by the deputy leader of the Minority, Congressman Arnaldo Jordy (PPS-PA), is addressed to the president of the Ethics Committee, Sepúlveda Pertence. The objective is to question the committee to determine if Bernardo violated the Code of Conduct for Senior Federal Administration.

The PPS notes that Article 7 of the Code states that: "Public officials may not receive a salary or any other remuneration from a private source in violation of the law, nor receive transportation, lodging, or any favors from private individuals in a way that could lead to a situation that might raise doubts about their probity or honorability."

Speculation in Brasilia

If it were up to President Dilma, the "clean-up" would have been completed a long time ago. But, should the pressure against Paulo Bernardo not cease, it is rumored that she has an ace up her sleeve. The possible replacement would be the former Minister of the Secretariat of Communication, Franklin Martins.

It could be true or just a way to cool down the wave of accusations. Franklin is a proponent of media regulation – what the PT calls the Media Law, similar to what was done in Argentina – and his name might lead Paulo Bernardo's opponents to think: bad with him, worse without him.

Read below, reports from 247 about the use of private aircraft by Paulo Bernardo and Gleisi Hoffmann.

247 – The Dilma Rousseff government has become a prisoner of the logic of "cleaning up." And now, after quarreling with almost all of its allies, it will have to work hard in the Chamber and the Senate to prevent one of its most powerful ministers, Paulo Bernardo, of Communications, from having to go to Congress to explain why he used the private jet of a construction company that benefited from government funds: Sanches Tripoloni, from Maringá, the electoral base of Bernardo and Gleisi.

The PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) caucus in the Senate will request this week that the minister be summoned to explain his relationship with Sanches Tripoloni. It's worth remembering that the ride on a private jet carrying businessmen with interests in the Ministry of Agriculture was one of the reasons that precipitated Wagner Rossi's departure from the ministry last week – as this would violate the public code of ethics.

In July, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo revealed that consultant Teresinha Nerone, a friend of Paulo Bernardo and his wife, the Minister of the Civil House, Gleisi Hoffmann, worked to convince the Ministry of Transport to readjust the values ​​of a project undertaken by Sanches Tripoloni: the construction of the Maringá (PR) ring road.

Read below the report published yesterday by 247 about the case:

247 – Sooner or later, the “clean sweep” would knock on the PT’s door. Yesterday, it was Ideli Salvatti’s turn, the Minister of Political Coordination, caught on a wiretap negotiating positions at DNIT, the National Department of Infrastructure, from where more than 20 figures linked to the PR party, led by Valdemar Costa Neto, were ousted (read more). Today, it’s the turn of the most powerful couple in the Republic: Paulo Bernardo and Gleisi Hoffmann. For more than a month, rumors had been circulating, or malicious gossip, as they say in Curitiba, that the former director-general of DNIT, Luiz Antônio Pagot, would reveal the couple’s connections with the construction company Sanches Tripoloni. When Pagot testified in Congress, he said nothing, and the suspicion dissipated.

But this weekend, a report in Época magazine raises suspicions that the couple maintained dangerous relationships with the construction company. Starting with the use of the private jet with the registration PR-AJT – it's worth remembering that the final straw for Wagner Rossi's dismissal from the Agriculture Ministry was the use of the plane belonging to the Ourofino company, linked to agribusiness.

The owner of the aircraft PR-AJT, a King Air, is businessman Paulo Francisco Tripoloni, owner of the construction company. According to a report by Época magazine, both Paulo Bernardo and Gleisi Hoffmann used the aircraft – she, when she did not hold public office; he, as Minister of Planning and responsible for the allocation of federal funds.

As minister, Bernardo would have included the construction of the Maringá Northern Bypass among the priority projects of the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program). The project, executed by Sanches Tripolini, has already cost twice the originally budgeted amount.

Unreliable company

According to the Federal Court of Accounts, Sanches Tripoloni is considered an ineligible company due to another project carried out in Paraná, the construction of the Foz do Iguaçu bypass. Despite this, it continued to receive public funds – R$ 267 million last year.

The construction company also donated funds to election campaigns last year. A total of R$ 7 million was donated, of which R$ 510 went to Gleisi Hoffmann's Senate campaign. Neither she nor he have responded regarding the use of the construction company's private jet. However, in the coming days, opposition parliamentarians will submit a request for information about who flew on the PR-AJT.

The Dilma government, less than eight months into its term, has become a prisoner of the "clean-up." And the PT, as is well known, is neither different nor better than the other parties in the allied base.

And now, Dilma?