Secom denies that Lula spent more than Bolsonaro

2023-09-19 01:41:16

Ricardo Stuckert/PR – 27/08/2023

Note from the Presidency of the Republic contests published expenditure figures

After the publication of a report by the Folha de São Paulo newspaper that stated that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) had spent more than Bolsonaro, Temer and Dilma Rousseff on the corporate card, the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic issued an official note claiming it is false that the president spent more than his predecessor.

In addition to contesting the total amount of expenses published in the press, the note also highlighted that the majority of expenses refer to Lula’s international trips.

“Expenses paid in the first seven months of this year are lower than the values ​​recorded last year, going from R$8.8 million in 2022 to R$7.99 million in 2023”, says an excerpt from the statement.

“It is important to highlight that the majority of expenses incurred with the CPGF in the 2023 financial year refer to ground support services for aircraft on international trips, a result of the intense work underway by the current management to resume Brazil’s diplomatic relations with the world, abandoned in recent years.”

Furthermore, Secom states that “the statement that the Lula government “broke the confidentiality of corporate card statements” from previous administrations is “also incorrect”, and that information relating to the current government is “top secret”.

“The data is classified as reserved for security reasons in compliance with the Access to Information Law (12,527/11) and remains confidential until the end of the current mandate, which justifies the disclosure of data from previous governments at the beginning of this year”, says the note.

Check out the official note in full below:

“Differently from what was published by Folha de S. Paulo, this Monday (18/9), the Presidency of the Republic did not spend more in 2023 than the previous administration with the Federal Government Payment Card (CPGF). expenses paid in the first seven months of this year are lower than the amounts recorded last year, going from R$8.8 million in 2022 to R$7.99 million in 2023.

It is important to highlight that the majority of expenses incurred with the CPGF in the 2023 financial year refer to ground support services for aircraft on international trips, a result of the intense work underway by the current management to resume Brazil’s diplomatic relations with the world, abandoned in recent years.

The objective is not only to recover the country’s image abroad, but also to re-establish commercial relations with important partners, which results in attracting foreign investments in strategic areas that directly contribute to recovering the capacity of the Brazilian domestic market, boosting the generation of employment and income in Brazil.

The statement that the Lula government ‘broke the confidentiality of corporate card statements’ from previous administrations and that information relating to the current government ‘is top secret’ is also incorrect. As explained to the newspaper, the data is classified as reserved for security reasons in compliance with the Access to Information Law (12,527/11) and remains confidential until the end of the current mandate, which justifies the disclosure of government data earlier this year.”