Margaret Menezes accumulates debts of more than R$1 million in the public treasury

The re-establishment of the Ministry of Culture was one of the main election promises of the elected president. on Tuesday the thirteenth, Lola He invited the singer to take over the volume Margaret Menezes🇧🇷 We talked and I accepted the assignment, it was a surprise for me,” she said after meeting with the Labor Party candidate. The future minister’s profile has been celebrated for representing diversity in its many facets – woman, black, celebrity and human rights activist. “We will create a working group to raise the Ministry of Culture,” announced the 60-year-old artist, the daughter of a seamstress and a driver, born in a modest neighborhood in Salvador, where, by the way, she has maintained for more than a decade, an acclaimed social project that offers vocational courses for young people and art workshops for children Through a non-governmental organization that I founded. Because this NGO, for other reasons, can become a big stumbling block for the future minister.

In December 2020, the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) convicted Associação Fábrica Cultural of returning 338,000 reais to public coffers. The value refers to irregularities discovered in an agreement signed in 2010, the last year of Lula’s government, between the NGO Margaret Menezes and the Ministry of Culture, to hold a symposium on cultures of identity. Under the contract, the ministry will release 757,000 Brazilian reais to finance the event, with a budget of one million reais. Fábrica Cultural, the minister’s entity, will pay the rest. In examining the provision of accounts for the agreement, TCU technicians found irregularities, such as bogus quotes, contracting for services without detailing the purpose, payments for services not performed, payments to people with DG relationships, and exaggerated shopping. In addition, the NGO did not provide the agreed resources in exchange.

VEJA had access to an audit that examined the accountability of the entity. Apart from the aforementioned irregularities, court technicians have identified a suspicious payment of 120,000 reais to Foco Entretenimento. Upon checking the corporate structure of the company, they discover that it belongs to the directors of Margaret Menezes’ NGO – something prohibited by law, precisely to prevent public funds from falling into the pockets of those who supposedly run it on a non-profit basis. TCU specified that a portion of the resources be returned, which never happened. As a result, the name of the NGO Margareth Meneses is entered into the Late Registry (Cadin), which prevents it from signing new agreements with the public administration. The Federal Attorney General sued the entity to try to recover the resources.

Embarrassing though it may be, this is not the future minister’s only outstanding issue with the public treasury – not even the biggest. In addition to debts to the ministry she would lead, Margaret Menezes accumulated tax and social security debts. The Federal Revenue collects OMR1.1 million in unpaid taxes from two of Al-Moghni’s businesses – Estrela do Mar Produções Artisticas and MM Produções e Criações. The first, founded in 2001, handles, among other activities, the recording of songs and the production of shows for the artist. Tax auditors discovered that she collected INSS from her employees, but didn’t pass it on to Social Security, which is an offense. The second, responsible for the singer’s concerts, ended its activities in 2015, leaving income tax, PIS, Cofins and social contribution debts. The name of the minister and her companies are registered in the active debt of the union. The Attorney General of the National Treasury sued to try to collect the taxes.

Quite complex, Estrela do Mar is a party to four tax enforcement proceedings that are being handled by the Federal Regional Court of the First District (TRF1). In one of them, the judge decided to seize and seize the company’s assets. In another, if the debt is not paid, you decide to entrust the resources in bank accounts and financial assets. In the same procedure No. 1 there are also two executions against Fábrica Cultural, the NGO of the future minister. Both refer to taxes due. Both also specified that the entity’s assets be forfeited. Margaret Menezes may, at the end of the proceedings, be jointly and severally liable for the debts of her companies and the NGO. He sought, the future minister did not comment. Fabrica’s attorney, Guilherme Peixoto, has informed that he will appeal TCU’s decision, arguing that the case has expired. Anyway, this denied accounts past isn’t exactly the best credential for someone who’s going to manage a billion-dollar budget starting next year.

Posted in VEJA on Dec 21, 2022, Available here. Issue 2820