Minister of Tourism used public funds to pay governess in Brasilia

13/09/2011 - 09h10

The Minister of Tourism, Pedro Novais (PMDB), 81, used public funds to pay the salary of the housekeeper of his apartment in Brasilia.

The payment is improper: it was made from 2003 to 2010, when Novais was the PMDB Representative from Maranhão.

The maid, Doralice Bento de Sousa, 49, was paid like a government secretary in the House of Representatives, appointed by Novais.

Folha learned that she didn't work in Novais' office nor in the state political office, preconditions for the use of government funds to pay assistants.

Dora performed tasks in Novais' apartment: cooking, organizing the house and supervising the cleaning by the day help.

	Alan Marques/Folhapress
	The Minister of Tourism, Pedro Novais (PMDB)

She often slept in Novais' house and accompanied the family to Rio, where the minister has an apartment, and to Maranhão. A government secretary earns R$1142 to R$2284 per month, depending on bonuses.

Dora was exonerated in January of this year, as soon as Novais was appointed minister and had to move from the House apartment to a flat.

But she was not unemployed. She was hired by the Vision Administration and Services, which receives R$1.5 million annually from Tourism to provide labor.

Dora became a receptionist in an office that the ministry keeps in a mall in Brasilia.

Before working for Novais, Dora was the maid of the former representative Marcelo Barbieri (PMDB). Now mayor of Araraquara (SP), he said that Novais asked him about the maid:

"He asked for her references, and I gave them. I said that she is a good person, honest. She did everything, but my relationship with her was private, it had nothing to do with the House."

MISCONDUCT

The public prosecutor has already reported other representatives, who used public funds to pay domestic help, for misconduct.

The Federal Court brought cases against two of them, which will charge them with illicit enrichment. If convicted, they can lose the right to run for public office. The case is identical to that of Novais.

In 2009, when Folha reported that the other representatives had hired maids with government money, Novais asked that Dora go to Congress occasionally.

Weeks later, when the dust settled, she resumed her exclusive duties in Novais' apartment.

The misuse of government money is one more complaint against Novais. In December, it was revealed that he used government funds to pay for a party at a motel in Maranhão.

Novais returned the money and took the job. But his position was precarious after the Federal Police revealed that Tourism is the focus of a serial fraud investigation.

The investigation, which has already brought down almost all the top officials, found irregularities in agreements with NGO's and in representatives' projects.

Novais didn't escape the tight net. As revealed by Folha in August, an amendment that he introduced in the House benefited a ghost contractor in Maranhão.

Translated by DAVE WOLIN