Minister of Sports, Orlando Silva, refutes the accusation that he received money from members of the group under investigation for misappropriation of money from Programa Segundo Tempo (Second Half Program), created by the federal government to stimulate poor children to practice sports. He also said it asked the Federal Police to investigate the case.
Soon after Orlando Silva was interviewed to refute the accusation, in Guadalajara, Mexico, where the Pan American Games are being held, the Ministry of Sports issued a statement on its Web site about the case. The statement informs that Orlando Silva asked the Minister of Justice, José Eduardo Cardozo, to the Federal Police (PF) investigate the allegations made by military police João Dias Ferreira, linked to the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), which the minister is affiliated with.
"I'm sure it will be clear that all he [Ferreira] says are falsehoods," the minister said, referring to accusations made by the policeman to Veja magazine this week. Director of two non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Ferreira is one of five people arrested last year in Brasilia, on charges of misappropriating money from the federal program.
Based on accusations of Ferreira and an employee of the policeman, Célio Soares Pereira, Veja reported that a structure organized by PCdoB was working within the Ministry of Sports to misappropriate public money. Pereira told the magazine he had given to Orlando Silva, in the garage of the ministry, a cardboard box containing money packs of R$ 50 and R$ 100.
According to the magazine, the funds went to the party's electoral cash and to some of its leaders. The policeman told to Veja that the scheme worked since the Minister of Sports was Agnelo Queiroz, now governor of the Federal District. At the time, Orlando Silva was executive secretary of the office.
In accordance with the note, Ferreira is responsible for João Dias Association of Kung Fu and Brasilia’s Kung Fu Federation, entities with which the ministry has signed two agreements in 2005 and 2006, so that children and youth were served by Second Half Program.
Still according to the ministry, since the contracts were not met, the transfer of public money provided has been suspended. In addition, in June 2010, Orlando Silva ordered the establishment of a Special Rendering of Accounts, sending the case to the Brazilian Court of Audit (TCU).
In the magazine report, Veja also reports that Ferreira is appointed as responsible for the misappropriation of about R$ 2 million that should have been used to buy sports equipment and food for needy children. The ministry confirms that it is demanding, in Court, that the entities headed by the policeman return R$ 3.6 million to the state coffers.
The note says that the interpretation of the Minister of Sports is that this was the reason for João Dias does the accusations of misappropriation of funds from Second Half now. João Dias is a defendant in a civil action proposed by Federal Prosecutors Office as a result of irregularities in the implementation of the agreements reported by the Ministry of Sports.
highlights
04/05 | News
