Brasília, March 4, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Senator Magno Malta (PL/ES) decided to a motion today on the floor of the Senate requesting the installation of a Parliamentary Investigation Commission (CPI) on bingo games. Malta confessed that he was not convinced by government leaders to await the vote on the Provisional Measure (MP) on bingo games before calling for an investigation. Yesterday (3) he said: "I will present the motion tomorrow at the start of the session. I have waited until now, because I agreed to converse. I listened to the arguments, but my position remains the same. The MP on bingo games is positive, but it doesn't invalidate the investigation." Malta was supposed to meet again today with leaders of parties allied with the government, but he warned that he has no intention of changing his mind. "Up to now there is nothing to dissuade me," he said.
For the Senator, who spent yesterday making a secret of whether he would present his motion, the publication of the MP that bans the operation of bingo games in the country only serves to reinforce the need to investigate the gaming market, contrary to what government leaders in the Senate claim. "The MP is the most conclusive proof that the government recognizes the existence of contravention in the sector. It confirms the CPI," he said.
As for the possibility that the PT and other parties in the government's support base will withdraw their signatures from the motion as a way to block the CPI, Malta said that the members of the Senate knew what they were signing, and nobody was fooled; therefore, public opinion should hold them accountable for their acts. "Everyone answers for him(her)self. If the base decided that the best thing to do is to withdraw the signatures, this is not Magno Malta's problem," he affirmed. The Senator assures that he is not afraid of government retaliations against his insistence on the CPI. "I see no reason for this."
The PT provided seven signatures and decided that cancellation of the signatures would serve as a "Plan B," in case Malta was not convinced by the leaders of the base. If the party withdraws its signatures, this invalidates the CPI, because it reduces the number of Senators who support the investigation to 26, whereas the bylaws require a minimum of 27 signatures. So far three Senators have announced the removal of their names from the list: Tião Viana (PT/AC), Sibá Machado (PT/AC), and Hélio Costa (PMDB/MG). Malta guarantees, nevertheless, that he can still count on 32 signatures, since the only desistance he confirms is Viana's.
The Senator from Espírito Santo says he is confident that the CPI on bingo games will be installed, and he rebuts the arguments that there is no definite fact that justifies the Commission. In his view, contravention in the sector is the reason for an investigation, whereas such a reason is lacking in the motion proposed by the opposition to establish a CPI on the Waldomiro Diniz case. "I shall not sign Antero's CPI [proposed by Senator Antero Paes de Barros of the PSDB of Mato Grosso], because it lacks a definite fact. Here we have a fact," he said. (DAS)
