The STF (Supreme Federal Court) will this Thursday (16) launch a full transparency portal to inform the public about expenses on tickets, daily allowances, staff, contracts and accountability. It is not yet predicted when it will be back in the air this Friday (17).
The move came after Folha de S. Paulo newspaper questioned the company's communication about the justifications for paying employees daily allowances for international travel.
The court said the move was taken as the court was “in the process of updating the management tool for data systems in use, which has not been updated since 2015”.
For this reason, the STF said the court could not confirm the amount of R$564,000 spent on foreign travel this year, according to data seen by the report before the website was taken offline.
“Although several tests were carried out, some panels provided inconsistent or duplicate information. For this reason, some statistics may not be available till correction,” he said.
Folha had sought information on daily expenses and activities performed by employees on these international missions. The origin of these resources has also been questioned.
Marcelo Ribeiro Pires, an employee of Minister Diaz Toffoli's security department, spent R$99,600 on daily foreign trips to London, the United Kingdom and Madrid in Spain, he asked Friday through Folha.
According to the government's Siafi (Integrated Financial Administration), this amount corresponds to the payment of 25 international daily fees from April 23 to this Friday (17th).
According to the STF press office, the daily wages of civil servants follow the provisions of Ethical Instruction 291 issued in February this year.
According to the provision, “in the interest of the STF and on an occasional or interim basis”, employees traveling outside the federal district or abroad will benefit.
The amount should be earmarked for accommodation, food and urban transport expenses. This does not include travel expenses which have been included in another item by the court.
The resolution also states that per diem allowances for assignments abroad are subject to the employee's prior authorization of leave. Authorization is granted by an act of the Director General of the Court “subject to budgetary availability and current budgetary guidelines”.
The server must present a reason for the foreign invitation that “demonstrates technical, legal, scientific, or cultural competence that highlights the importance of the services to be provided to the STF.” .
International daily rates are US$959.40 for ministers and US$671.58 for other beneficiaries. Resources are paid in advance, except in cases of emergency leave – when they last more than 15 days, they can be paid in installments as per the rule.
STF ministers are under pressure over a lack of transparency regarding travel expenses for European events outside of Brazil, which do not disclose information such as cost and duration.
Except for those presiding over court, they generally do not travel internationally with body-issued tickets.
The issue came up again as ministers Gilmer Mendes, Diaz Toffoli and Alexandre de Moraes traveled to a legal event in Europe. Grupo Voto, which organized a forum attended by the trio in London, said it was responsible for all operational costs of the event.
The internal rules of the court provide that the president is the representative of the court before external bodies and he must fulfill this role. Currently, Luis Roberto Barroso presides over the Supreme Court.
Folhaprus
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