In a public hearing at the Education Commission of that assembly, authorities confirmed that the mediation was conducted by Pastors Arilton Moura and Gilmar Santos, associated with the ministry of the Christ for All Church from Goiânia, the capital of the state of Goiás.
Allegations in the press led to the overthrow on March 28 of former Education Minister Milton Ribeiro, who is also a Protestant pastor.
Ribeiro is under investigation for allegedly abetting the release of resources to regions through the intermediary of two pastors who are friends of Jair Bolsonaro’s government.
According to the report of Mayor Gilberto Braga of the municipality of Luís Domingues in the state of Maranhão (Northeast), he was wanted last April when he was in Brasilia to attend an event organized by the Ministry in the presence of Ribeiro and several corregidores. .
A group of 20 to 30 people went to a restaurant to eat and there Braga said he was questioned by Moura about the community’s demands.
The pastor asked for the payment of 15,000 reais (about three thousand dollars) “to submit the application” in the education system.
Likewise, after the resources were released, the religious would have said that the mayor should give him “a kilo of gold”.
Before the request, Braga added that he didn’t say “neither yes nor no” and went to eat. He commented that the payment was not made and the claims were not released.
Another mayor, Kelton Pinheiro from the municipality of Bonfinópolis in the state of Minas Gerais (southeast), also confirmed to the senators with details of a similar situation.
He pointed out that Moura and Santos received a bribe of 15,000 reais to allow the construction of a 12-classroom school in the district.
According to the complaints, even without formal charges, the shepherds had freedom of movement in education and mediated the communities’ requests with Ribeiro.
According to audio recordings by the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper and reports by the O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper, the former minister is involved in a corruption scheme.
Despite trying to distance himself from the case in a letter, Ribeiro agreed in a recorded conversation that he had been commissioned by Bolsonaro to release resources and direct them to communities associated with two religious.
In the recording he notes that it is “a special request of the President of the Republic”.
jha/ocs