Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and Central Bank President Roberto Campos Neto said that your companies offshore in the British Virgin Islands were declared to the authorities. The BC president also said that he stopped making moves as soon as he took office in government. Guedes states that “it detached itself from all its performance in the private market“.
The existence of these offshore was revealed in the Panama Papers series, from ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists). In Brazil, journalists from the power360, from the magazine Piauí, gives Public Agency and the website metropolises.
“All my assets were built with income obtained over 22 years of work in the financial market, including executive functions abroad. The entirety of this heritage, in the country and abroad, is declared to CEP/PR [Comissão de Ética Pública da Presidência da República], to the Federal Revenue and the Central Bank, with payment of all due taxation and compliance with all legal rules and ethical commands applicable to public agents.” said Campos Neto.
The Public Ethics Commission takes care of compliance issues in the civil service.
“Its performance always respected the applicable legislation and was guided by ethics and responsibility. Since taking up the position of Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes has withdrawn from all his activities in the private market, under the terms required by the Public Ethics Commission, fully respecting the legislation applied to public servants and occupants of positions in commission. It should be noted that the Federal Supreme Court itself has already attested to the suitability and capacity of Paulo Guedes, in the judgment of the action proposed by the PDT against the Minister of Economy“, said the press office of the minister of economy.
Paulo Guedes is a partner at Dreadnoughts International Group Limited. THE offshore opened in September 2014 with capital of US$8.5 million.
O power360 showed that Campos Neto had at least two offshore in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven: Cor Assets and ROCN, which are the initials of its name. There are other offshores with the president of the Central Bank himself formally declared to the Senate, in document of January 1, 2019.
>>> read on here all Pandora Papers texts published by Power360.
ROCN operated from 2007 to 2016. Cor Assets stayed with Campos Neto from 2004 to August 2020. He closed the company 15 months after assuming the presidency of BC.
“The companies are declared to the Internal Revenue Service and were incorporated for over 14 years with income obtained over 22 years of work in the financial market, even arising from performance in executive functions abroad. There was no remittance of funds to the companies after my appointment to the public service. Since then, for compliance reasons, I have not participated in the management or made investments with company resources. The change of office was suggested by the custodian, who stopped working with the aforementioned company”, he stated.
In a document to the Senate in January 2019, before taking over the BC, Campos Neto explained his decision to abstain from investing. Here is an excerpt from his statement:
PUBLIC INTEREST
As recorded in several texts in the Pandora Papers series, having a company offshore or bank account abroad is not a crime for Brazilians who declare these activities to the Federal Revenue and the Central Bank, as the case may be.
If it’s not a crime, why divulge information about people whose business abroad complies with Brazilian rules? The answer to that question is simple: o power360 and the ICIJ are guided by the principle of journalistic relevance and public interest.
As is well known, there is a difference in how Brazilians should register their companies.
For the vast majority of citizens with registered businesses within Brazil, the data is public. All you have to do is go to a notary office or a Board of Trade to find out who the owners of a particular company are. In the case of those who have a offshore, even if declared, the information is not public.
There are, therefore, 2 types of Brazilian entrepreneurs: 1) those who have their companies in the country and who are exposed to the scrutiny of any other citizen; two) those who are able to open the business outside the country and whose data will be protected by confidentiality.
Those are the rules. In this space it will not be analyzed whether they are iniquitous or not. That’s the law. It must be fulfilled. It is up to Congress, if it wishes, to improve the rules. Journalism is left with the mission of reporting the facts.
It is, therefore, a function of professional journalism to describe to society what is happening in the country. There are citizens who occupy a prominent position and who must always be subjected to greater scrutiny. In this category, among others, celebrities (who live off their public exposure and often receive state subsidy); journalistic media companies and journalists (since one of their functions is precisely to investigate what is right or wrong in the country’s daily life); big businessmen; who makes donations to political campaigns; public workers; politicians in general. And there are even more explicit cases: contractors cited in major scandals, money changers, bookmakers and drug dealers.
All investigations must be judicious and never expose anyone improperly. A great entrepreneur who chooses to open a offshore, properly declared, has every right to do so. But the obligation of professional journalism is also to investigate big business and say how a given company takes care of its resources – always bearing in mind, when applicable, that everything is in accordance with current laws.
Many of the Brazilians mentioned in the Pandora Papers series responded proactively to the power360. They presented proof of the legality of their business abroad. They are citizens who contribute to the common good by understanding the role of professional journalism in scrutinizing who is more politically exposed in society.
The Pandora Papers series is the 8th that the power360 did in partnership with ICIJ (read about the previous ones here). It is a contribution of professional journalism to offer more transparency to society. The principle expressed in the sentence coined by the US Supreme Court Judge Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) about a century ago about access to data of public interest was followed in this report and in others already carried out: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant”. O power360 believes that in this way it fulfills its main mission as a journalism company: “Improving democracy by ascertaining the truth of the facts to inform and inspire”.
This article is part of the Pandora Papers series, from ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists). 615 journalists from 149 vehicles in 117 countries participated in the investigation.
In Brazil, journalists from the power360 (Fernando Rodrigues, Mario Cesar Carvalho, Guilherme Waltenberg, Tiago Mali, Nicolas Iory, Marcelo Damato and Brunno Kono); of the magazine Piauí (José Roberto Toledo, Ana Clara Costa, Fernanda da Escóssia and Allan de Abreu); gives Public Agency (Anna Beatriz Anjos, Alice Maciel, Yolanda Pires, Raphaela Ribeiro, Ethel Rudnitzki and Natalia Viana); and the website metropolises (Guilherme Amado and Lucas Marchesini).