The Education Commission (EC) approved this Thursday (24) an invitation for the special secretary of Culture of the Ministry of Tourism, Mário Frias, to provide clarifications on expenses with official travel.
According to Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN), author of the request (REQ 4/2022), the secretariat spent BRL 98 on trips by Frias, deputy secretary Hélio Ferraz and undersecretary André Porciúncula to the United States, between December 2021 and January 2022.
The date for the hearing has not yet been announced. As this is an invitation, the secretary is not obliged to respond.
According to Jean Paul, the secretariat does not provide clarification on expenses. For the senator, it is necessary to clarify the secretary's trip to the United States, which, according to information published in the press, would have been motivated by the discussion of a “cultural project” with Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Renzo Gracie.
“The secretary even filed a lawsuit requesting compensation from the airlines for that trip, in the order of over R$ 33, for having delayed the delivery of the luggage. That is, the secretary intended to receive compensation for delay in delivering luggage on a trip paid for by federal public funds. And to top it off, the reason for that long and expensive trip was to meet a Renzo Gracie”, argued.
Source: The Senate Agency