Priscilla Mazenotti           Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – No less than three commissions in the Chamber of Deputies are scheduled to hold hearings regarding charges of irregularities in the Ministry of Tourism this week. The commissions of Financial Control and Oversight (“Fiscalização Financeira e Controle”), Consumer Affairs (“Defesa do Consumidor”) and Tourism and Sports have all approved invitations for minister Pedro Novais to explain the charges of fraud in contracts.

Special attention will be given to contracts with a non-governmental organization known as Ibrasi (“Instituto Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento de Infraestrutura Sustentável”) for training 1,900 tourism professionals in Amapá.

Last week, a Federal Police operation (“Operação Voucher”) arrested 36 people with connections to the Ministry of Tourism’s contracts with Ibrasi, including the second highest ranking bureaucrat there, the executive secretary, Frederico Silva da Costa, and the former president of the Brazilian Tourism Corporation (“Embratur”), Mario Moyses. However, even before the week was out all of them had been released on writs of habeas corpus.

As a result of the arrests and ongoing investigation, ministry spokespersons have announced a series of changes in rules governing contracts.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Comissões da Câmara devem ouvir ministro do Turismo nesta semana