INSS Fraud

That theft was, in fact, the subject of the CPMI on the INSS, of which I was a member along with many Senators of this House.

The Rapporteur, the President and the opposition strove to ensure that the facts were ascertained.

They were not fully ascertained only because the Government base worked against it, but the very constitution of the CPMI had, in my view, a positive side effect, which ended up resulting in the boosting of the investigations before the Federal Police and the judiciary, highlighting as an important milestone the reassignment of the case, which fell into the hands of Minister André Mendonça, who acted very courageously in presiding over the inquiry or in supervising the police work, even ordering the preventive detention, more than deserved, of central figures in that fraud and that crime, such as the former President of the INSS, Alessandro Stefanutto, suspected of having received a monthly payment of R$250,000 from associations benefited by the fraud, and Careca do INSS, actually the Marcos Valério of our time, at least in this INSS scandal.

But those investigations also advanced thanks to the Federal Police, to the way the work was conducted during that period, and to the chief investigator responsible, who acted with independence and autonomy, it being worth noting, especially, that he placed under suspicion, and in relation to whom he requested investigative measures, Lulinha, none other than President Lula's son — a courageous action by that investigator, which deserved the applause not only of the CPMI but of the entire country, which wants to see exactly that.

Those who stole from the INSS retirees and pensioners must pay severely for these crimes.

So I fear, unfortunately, that this investigation, so well conducted by the Federal Police until now into the theft from INSS retirees and pensioners, may come to an end that is not the one desired by everyone, which is the complete elucidation of the facts.

In my view, this theft from INSS retirees and pensioners was the most shameful episode of the Lula Government's corruption scandals, and note that the competition is fierce.

But now those most vulnerable people were attacked and hit, those people who often had no means to protect themselves and were deceived by swindlers who fraudulently deducted their benefits.