MARCELO ROCHA
BRASILIA, DF (FOLHAPRESS)
Former Secretary of Social Communication of the Presidency under Jair Bolsonaro, Fabio Wajngarten is a partner in a company that maintains a contract with the party of the former president of the Republic, the PL.
This year, FW Comunicação has already received at least R$562,500 from the party, according to the accounting sent to the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). The amount was paid in installments in May, June and July.
The amounts were debited from a bank account maintained by PL to receive resources from the party fund, public money transferred annually for the maintenance of political parties.
It is in this same account that the salaries of Bolsonaro, Michelle Bolsonaro and former minister Walter Braga Netto, vice-president on the ticket led by the former president in last year’s elections, are deducted.
When contacted by the report, Wajngarten shared a note from the national leadership of the PL, a party led by Valdemar Costa Neto. The text informs that FW was hired to “provide press assistance for the party’s honorary presidency”.
“For this work, he has a team that monitors the media, analyzes published materials, in addition to press advisory work, which includes permanent assistance to journalists from media outlets,” stated the statement.
Bolsonaro has held the position of honorary president of the PL since returning from the United States, where he traveled on the eve of the end of his term, thus avoiding the democratic rite of passing on the banner to his successor, today’s president Lula (PT) .
The party fund is made up of money from the Union Budget, fines, penalties, donations and other financial resources established by legislation.
Between January and June 2023, the Electoral Court distributed just over R$500 million. The largest portion, R$77.4 million, went to PL, according to TSE data.
Currently, Wajngarten is also part of the legal team responsible for defending Bolsonaro in criminal investigations against the former president, such as the jewelry case. This investigation takes place at the STF under the report of Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
The former Secretary of Social Communication was recently at the Federal Police to be heard as a witness, but chose to remain silent – Bolsonaro’s defense questions the STF as a forum for processing the case.
Wajngarten also understands that he would be exempt from testifying as a witness due to the fact that he acted as a defender in the case.
This is not the first time that FW Comunicação appears in PL’s accounts. Last year, the company received around R$650,000 from Valdemar’s party, according to statements also made available by the TSE party.
On the eve of the start of last year’s campaign, Wajngarten was chosen to reinforce the support team for the then candidate for re-election.
In 2020, Folha de S.Paulo revealed that the then head of Secom received, through FW, money from TV stations and advertising agencies hired by the Bolsonaro government’s own secretariat, ministries and state-owned companies.
At the time, Wajngarten denied there was a conflict of interest. Also at the time, the Presidency’s Public Ethics Commission closed the case, but without opening an investigation.
Secom is responsible for distributing Planalto’s advertising budget and also for dictating the rules for the accounts of other federal bodies.
Records from the Federal Revenue Service and the São Paulo Board of Trade indicate that Wajngarten has 95% of the shares of the company FW and his mother, Clara Wajngarten, another 5%.
The post Bolsonaro’s advisor company has already received more than R$500,000 from the PL this year appeared first in Jornal de Brasília.
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