SUMMARY 

• The Federal Court of Accounts – Brazil (TCU) analyzed the payroll for Emergency Aid related to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

• Data from April to July indicated 439,758 beneficiaries of the emergency aid with evidence of undue payment, in non-compliance to Act 13,982 / 2020. 

• The TCU verified that there are 231 families, registered through the application of the Brazilian bank Caixa, with more than two members benefiting from the emergency aid, which is prohibited. 

• “There were 1,517 beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família Program ineligible for the Emergency Aid, although they are likely to meet the legal criteria”, pondered Minister Bruno Dantas. 

• The Court's audit considered the controls on criteria related to families ineffective. 

• The Federal Court of Accounts determined that the Ministry of Citizenship review the signs of identified irregularities within 30 days. 

Last Wednesday (4), the Federal Court of Accounts -TCU Brazil examined its third Follow-up Report on data related to actions to combat Covid-19 in the areas of Social Assistance, Social Security, and Tax Management. 

“Our goal is to identify risks and provide guidance to managers about potential problems in the development of the actions they plan on taking and that could compromise their effectiveness. Thus, we seek to contribute to bring transparency to society regarding the destination of public expenses”, explained Minister-Rapporteur Bruno Dantas. 

Upon analysis of the payroll for the Emergency Aid related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the TCU found that data from April to July 2020 indicated 439,758 beneficiaries of the Emergency Aid with evidence of undue payment, that is, in non-compliance with the criteria set by Act 13,982 / 2020 (art. 2). 

“The conclusion is that there are more than 400 thousand benefits with indications of inclusion errors, out of almost 67 million beneficiaries of the Emergency Aid, reaching a total of R$ 813 million in resources, considering the sum of installments from April to July, which reinforces the risk of improper inclusion”, calculated Minister Dantas. 

Overall, the emergency aid, created by Act 13.982 / 2020 (amended by Act 13.998 / 2020), consists of a R$ 600 aid granted to beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família Program, unemployed individuals, informal workers, individual micro-entrepreneurs (MEI), and individual taxpayers to the General Social Security Regime (RGPS). 

“The motivation for creating the Emergency Aid was the impact caused by the reduction in the economic activity, especially on the income of informal workers and people in poverty. The reduction in the economic activity was basically due to measures of social distancing to reduce the level of contagion”, noted the Minister-Rapporteur. 

The Federal Court of Accounts found that there were 231 families, registered through the application of the Brazilian bank Caixa, with more than two members benefiting from the Emergency Aid, which is prohibited by Paragraph 1 of article 2 of Act 13,982 / 2020, totaling an extra expenditure of R$ 291 thousand, considering payments until July. 

The Federal Court of Accounts also pointed out the existence of “1,517 beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família Program who were considered ineligible for the emergency aid, although there is a reasonable likelihood that they meet the legal criteria”, pondered Minister-Rapporteur Bruno Dantas. 

The Court's audit found that the controls on criteria related to families were ineffective. In addition, it indicated control deficiencies resulting from the multiplicity of identification documents used by public policies of Social Assistance, which makes it difficult to identify the benefit’s holder. 

The Federal Court of Accounts determined that the Ministry of Citizenship review the indications of irregularities identified by the audit within 30 days.