The reorganization of the Ministry of Culture was one of the most important campaign promises made by the Presidentelect. on Tuesday the 13th, lula invited the singer to take over the portfolio Margaret Menez🇧🇷 “We spoke and I accepted the mission, it was a surprise for me,” she said after meeting the PT candidate. The future minister’s profile was celebrated for representing diversity in all its facets female, black, celebrity and human rights activist. “We’re going to create a task force to abolish the Ministry of Culture,” announced the 60yearold artist, daughter of a seamstress and a driver, born in a humble neighborhood in Salvador, where she’s incidentally resided for over a muchvaunted decade social project that offers vocational courses for young people and art workshops for children through a nongovernmental organization founded by her. Because this NGO could become a huge stumbling block for the future minister for other reasons.
In December 2020, the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) ordered the Associação Fábrica Cultural to return 338,000 reais to the public purse. The value refers to irregularities found in an agreement signed in 2010, the last year of the Lula government, between Margareth Menezes’ NGO and the Ministry of Culture to hold a seminar on identity cultures. Under the contract, the ministry would release 757,000 reais to fund the event, which is budgeted at 1 million. Fábrica Cultural, the minister’s establishment, would pay the rest. When inspecting the contract statement, the TCU technicians discovered irregularities such as fictitious price information, services commissioned without specifying the item, payments for services not rendered, payments to people related to public administration and overbilling when shopping. In addition, the NGO did not provide the agreed resources in return.
NA MALHA FINA Tax collections, unpaid tax lawsuits and illegal appropriation of the INSS by employees: complicated history ./.
VEJA had access to the audit, which verified the company’s accountability. Apart from the irregularities mentioned above, forensic technicians found a suspicious payment of 120,000 reais to the company Foco Enttretimento. When they examined the corporate structure, they discovered that it was owned by two directors of Margareth Menezes’ own NGO which is forbidden by law precisely to prevent public money from leaking into the pockets of those who supposedly run it for charity. The TCU determined the return of some of the resources, which never happened. The NGO Margareth Meneses was then entered in the delinquent register (cadin), which prevents them from signing new agreements with the public administration. The Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the company to try to recover the funds.
Although embarrassing, this is not the future minister’s only pending problem with the public coffers nor even the biggest. In addition to owing to the ministry she will head, Margareth Menezes is racking up tax and social security debts. The Federal Revenue Agency collects 1.1 million reais in unpaid taxes from two of the singer’s companies Estrela do Mar Produções Artísticas and MM Produções e Criações. The first, founded in 2001, handles, among other things, the recording of songs and the production of shows by the artist. Tax inspectors found that she collected the INSS from her employees but did not pass it on to Social Security, which is a criminal offence. The second, responsible for the singer’s concerts, ended her activity in 2015, leaving debts from income tax, PIS, cofins and social security contributions. The Minister and her companies’ names have been registered in the Active Debt of the Union. The Attorney General for the National Treasury filed a lawsuit to try to get the taxes.
Fairly confused, Estrela do Mar is a party in four tax enforcement cases being handled by the Federal District Court of Region 1 (TRF1). In one of these, the judge ordered the seizure and garnishment of the company’s assets. In another, when the debt was not paid, she decided to pawn resources in bank accounts and financial assets. In the same TRF1 there are also two executions against Fábrica Cultural, the future minister’s NGO. Both relate to taxes owed. Both also investigated the seizure of the company’s assets. At the end of the proceedings, Margareth Menezes can be jointly and severally liable for the debts of her companies and the NGO. Wanted, the future minister did not comment. Fábrica’s attorney, Guilherme Peixoto, said he would appeal TCU’s decision, arguing that the case was over. In any case, that history of rejected accounts isn’t exactly the best credentials for someone who will be managing a billionaire budget by next year.
Published in VEJA on 21. December 2022, Issue #2820
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