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More than ten years after the first CPI, Senate investigates NGOs in Amazon again
Prédio do Congresso Nacional, em Brasília. (Arte: Mateus Moura)
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April 13, 2023
Marcela Leiros – Cenarium Magazine
MANAUS – The Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) that will investigate the performance of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the Amazon was installed in the Senate this month, with the signature of 37 senators, 12 of them from the Amazon region, including the author of the request. The detail is that a CPI with the same purpose was installed in the Legislative House and closed in 2010, without suggesting indictments or pointing guilty parties.
The CPI is a way for the Congress to exercise its supervisory activity. It has no power to judge or competence to punish the investigated, but investigates determined facts. According to the request, the CPI of the NGOs will have 130 days to investigate the release of public funds to NGOs and Civil Society Organizations of Public Interest (OSCIPs).
PUBLICIDADE
Authored by Senator Plinio Valério (PSDB-AM), the current commission was awaiting installation since 2019, but lost its validity due to the change of legislature this year. A new process had to be started.
After the appointment of the 11 incumbents and seven alternates, the CPI should be installed in the coming days. To CENARIUM, Plinio Valério said that the next step is for the Senate president, Rodrigo Pacheco, to officiate the leaders of the blocks for the appointment of the CPI members. “And then an internal war begins. There is no time or deadline for this, but we will demand it”, he said.
Senator Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM) in a speech at the Federal Senate Plenary during an ordinary deliberative session (29.mar.23 – Waldemir Barreto/Agência Senado)
According to the author, the commission will investigate the government transfers to foreigners for NGOs and OSCIPs from 2002 to January this year and how they were spent. Also in the CPI’s sights will be the activities of front NGOs, their interference in the government, and the purchase of land.
“The country started, with increasing frequency, to live with accusations of the existence of ‘front NGOs’, whose real purposes would be to pass on resources to political parties or even private individuals. There are also growing suspicions that, even without receiving government funds, NGOs are involved in irregular activities, including the services of companies with headquarters abroad and the interests of foreign powers,” said Plínio Valério in the request.
Read also: ‘Generic accusation, without names, without facts’, says specialist on AM senator’s posture in environmental CPI
A CPI can only be installed after the reading of the request in plenary and, to reach this stage, the minimum number of 27 signatures is required. The commission originally had its request submitted four years ago, but with the change of legislature, it lost its validity. In 2023, Plinio Valério collected new signatures from his colleagues and presented a new request for the creation of the CPI of NGOs.
The CPI has already been installed
The first CPI, chaired by Heráclito Fortes (DEM-PI) and reported by Inácio Arruda (PCdoB-CE), lasted three years. The final report contained 1,478 pages and did not suggest or point out any culprits for illegal transfers to third sector organizations.
The rapporteur, an ally of the federal government at the time – the president of the Republic was Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) – assembled the document and did not even send it to the commission members, claiming that the non-vote was motivated by the dispute between government and opposition during the parliamentary commission of inquiry.
Heráclito Fortes (DEM-PI) went so far as to say that the government harmed the work of the CPI, since the congressmen from the ruling base were against all investigation initiatives, “betting on the misinformation of the voters”. “If the majority wants to sabotage the investigation, it is enough not to approve the request. In practice, it is a lack of respect for the minority and a threat to democracy. This occurred in fact in the CPI of NGOs,” he said at the time.
Read also: CTEYanomami: Senators give voice to miners and ignore indigenous peoples’ call
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