The rapporteur of the project toughening penalties for fuel fraud, MP Alcio Moreira (MDB-RS), stated that the fraud involves public officials and defends the necessity of voting on the text in a coordinated way with three other projects on the same topic.
Moreira was announced as rapporteur of the project on Thursday (27) in the same tweet in which the president of the Chamber, Hugo Motta (Republicans – PB), appointed rapporteurs for what he called a “set of structural projects”: the one that punishes the stubborn debtor, which guarantees the access of the ANP (National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels) to invoices in the fuel chain and which creates the national fuel system operator.
Moreira believes that the fraud involves state collusion. “I mean, it’s impossible to pull off this scam without the involvement of a public official,” he says. “They all have a public agent involved in this operation, and almost 100% of the operation in the country is carried out through drug trafficking. In fact, we work with crime that works with the overall economy.”
It is similar to the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) nexus deduction fraud and states that the strategy used is to earn a little from each sale of adulterated fuel to generate a huge volume of money.
He continues: “Fuel, given the amount consumed in Brazil, any fraud generates a mountain of resources and enriches many people.” “Drug trafficking is involved in this, but he is involved in such a way that he owns the refinery, he bought the ethanol plant, he bought thousands of plants. They have it all installed and today this is the main income,” he says.
He notes that this issue received attention after the launch of Operation Hidden Carbon, which was carried out in a coordinated manner by the Federal Revenue Authority, the Federal Police, the Public Ministry of São Paulo and the Prime Minister of São Paulo. This action identified links between the PCC (First Metropolitan Command), the fuel sector and the financial market, and included search and seizure actions in Faria Lima.
He criticizes: “Everyone knew about this project (by the persistent debtor), but in the House of Representatives and in Congress there is a process of negligence towards it.”
The representative says that he will consider measuring wholesale doses, the subject of the project for which he is scheduled, at the beginning of next week. “It’s a more complex issue. You have to get advice to find out what the appropriate punishment is for each crime. Let’s take for example a gas station that has defrauded the sale of fuel. Start your operation immediately, see who is responsible, and then see the punishment. Will there be deprivation of liberty? Will he be arrested? Will there be a fine? The gas station will be closed.”
Moreira says that the ideal solution is to approve projects in a coordinated manner because the texts are integrated. The parliamentarian believes that voting separately would reduce the effectiveness of the proposals.
“These legal instruments generate legal certainty and absolute control over the system to prevent consumers from consuming adulterated products without having any idea,” he says.
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