Brazil’s Covid-19 CPI finds contradictions in Wajngarten’s testimony; rapporteur threatens ex-secretary’s arrest

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to CPI rapporteur, Senator Renan Calheiros, the ex-Secom chief “incriminates” Bolsonaro by starting negotiations with Pfizer on the purchase of vaccines independently of the Ministry of Health.

The fifth witness to testify in the Pandemic Parliamentary Investigative Committee (CPI) of the Senate, ex-secretary of Communications of the Presidency Fabio Wajngarten adopted a discourse in defense of President Jair Bolsonaro and the federal government’s actions in tackling the Covid-19.

In testimony on Wednesday, May 12, Wajngarten made statements that go against what he said in an interview with Veja magazine in late April – which caused annoyance among the members of the CPI. The publication is said to be the main reason for his invitation to the hearing, which lasted more than six hours.

To the CPI members, the ex-secretary praised the “courage” of General Eduardo Pazuello, who was in charge of the Ministry of Health for the longest time during the novel coronavirus pandemic; he denied having taken part in negotiations with Pfizer representatives on the purchase of vaccines against Covid-19 by the Brazilian government; and he said that the initial negotiations involved a “negligible” amount of vaccines.

On the other hand, in the interview, Wajngaten said he was disputing with Pazuello the purchase of the vaccine, and that this would have been one of the reasons for his departure from the Planalto Palace in March. The text also mentions an offer of 70 million doses by the American pharmaceutical company – which the ex-secretary denied to the CPI.

In the interview in April, he said he had “opened the doors of the Planalto Palace” to the pharmaceutical company and made a “pilgrimage through all the [governmental] powers”, naming figures such as Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Gilmar Mendes, and Attorney General Augusto Aras, but that “incompetence” and “inefficiency” of the “team that managed the Ministry of Health” prevented the progress of negotiations.

According to Wajngarten, “if the contract with Pfizer had been signed in September, October, the first doses of the vaccine would have arrived at the end of last year.” The audio was made available by the publication after a request by legislators.

To the CPI, the ex-secretary said that his role in the negotiations with Pfizer was limited to initial contacts, due to the fact that the pharmaceutical company had not received a reply to a letter sent to Bolsonaro, with a copy to Vice-President Hamilton Mourão, to Ministers Eduardo Pazuello (at the time, Health), Walter Braga Netto (at the time, Chief of Staff) and Paulo Guedes (Economy) and Ambassador Nestor Foster, after almost two months.

“You can imagine the pressure of the press to attack the government saying that there was no vaccine, and the number of dead and infected increasing all the time,” he argued when asked about alleged misuse of function or interference in the powers of other portfolios.

“I didn’t handle negotiations. My intention was to help, create shortcuts, and shorten the path for the Brazilian population to have the best vaccine,” he added.

Given the perception of inconsistency between the statements to the committee and the report, the legislators requested the complete audio of the interview from Veja magazine. The content was provided by the magazine.

The atmosphere was tense throughout the session. In one of the most critical moments, after Wajngarten said he was unaware of a “parallel counseling” in the federal government to tackle Covid-19, CPI rapporteur Senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL) threatened to call for the ex-secretary’s arrest should it be found that he lied to the committee, to which he had pledged under oath to tell the truth.

“He said he was unaware of the existence [of a parallel advisory in the government], but it is the opposite: his excellency is proof of the existence of this advisory, he is the first person who incriminates the president of the Republic, because he initiated a negotiation on behalf of the Ministry of Health, as Secretary of Communication and saying he was representing the president; he is proof of the existence of this,” he said.

“I would like to say that I am going to demand from Veja magazine that, if he did not lie, it should retract his statement; and, if he lied to Veja magazine and to this committee, I am going to call for his arrest, according to the procedural legislation, just to say that and to avoid anyone saying that we are not handling this with the seriousness that this investigation demands,” he added.

A decision on the ex-secretary’s arrest, in this case, falls to the president of the CPI, Senator Omar Aziz (PSD-AM). Should this occur, the detainee would be taken to the Legislative Police station in the Senate, where an arrest warrant is issued and handed over to the Federal Police.