By Brennan Stark, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Rousseff ordered a thirty-day inquiry into all contracts signed by Brazilian federal government agencies with NGOs Monday, subsequently suspending all transactions over the period. The nonprofits’ performances and regularity will be assessed alongside their contractual agreements.
The investigation will determine whether or not certain NGOs have purposely omitted information in the past, breached their contracts, left obligations unfulfilled, or misappropriated public funds.
Any agencies not fully examined by the thirtieth day will have their contracts suspended for sixty days. If they cannot rectify the situation during this time, a record of irregularity will be recorded in the System Management Transfer Agreements and Contracts (SICONV) and Comptroller General (CGU).
It will be the responsibility of the leaders of various federal government agencies within Brazil to outlaw most new contracts with those NGOs that have been “blacklisted.” The ban will also extend to any groups that enlist leaders or ex-leaders of currently prohibited nonprofits.
The policy comes on the heels of allegations and the resignation of Brazil’s Sports Minister Orlando Silva – PCdoB (Communist Party of Brazil) – surrounding embezzled money from a social program aimed at getting underprivileged children into sports.
Of the R$29.788 billion transferred by goverment agreements in 2010, R$3.548 billion went to private institutions (mainly NGOs), or 12 percent of the total according to an O Globo report.
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