Mariana Jungmann        Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – The minister of National Integration, Fernando Bezerra Coelho, told a congressional commission yesterday that he had nothing to do with the appointment of his brother, Clementino Coelho, as acting president of a regional development corporation, Codevasf, that was housed in his ministry.

The minister also declared that his home state, Pernambuco, was not benefited with funding and that earmarks presented by his son, deputy Fernando Coelho, did not receive favorable treatment.

According to the minister, his brother became acting president of Codevasf in accordance with corporate statutes that established that when the presidency was vacant the most senior member of the board of directors was to take the post.  The brother had been a member of the board since 2003, the minister pointed out. “The ministry did not nominate or appoint anyone. Clementino Coelho became president of Codesvasf due to a vacancy,” explained the minister.

As for benefiting his home state of Pernambuco with civil defense funds for the repair and prevention of natural disasters, the minister denied that the decision was detrimental to other states, such as Minas Gerais or Rio de Janeiro. He emphasized the fact that out of the R$98 million that went to Pernambuco, R$70 million was for dams on rivers that flooded in 2010 causing severe damage. “The decision to spend R$70 million was based on technical studies not only made in the ministry, but by an oversight group linked to the government’s Accelerated Growth Program (“PAC”). As the PAC budget did not include the dams in Pernambuco, it was decided to use civil defense funding in the Ministry of National Integration budget,” the minister explained.

Finally, the minister denied that his ministry gave favorable treatment to his son’s earmarks (“emendas parlamentares”). Ministerial funding went to 138 congressmen out of 221 who presented earmarks and the decision to award funding was technical, said the minister. “It is a falsehood to say that the only congressman who had 100% of his earmarks approved was my son. The fact is that 54 of them got 100% of their earmarks approved,” said the minister.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Fernando Bezerra nega favorecimento de parentes e de Pernambuco em depoimento no Congresso Nacional