Paulo Bernardo Silva (born 10 March 1952) is a Brazilian politician, member of the Workers' Party (PT). He was Minister of Communications during the government of Dilma Rousseff and Minister of Planning during the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Personal life

Paulo Bernardo da Silva was born in São Paulo, son of Alfredo Manoel da Silva and Sydnéa Bernardes da Silva. He is an employee of

Bank of Brazil Banco do Brasil S.A. ( en, Bank of Brazil) is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. The oldest bank in Brazil, and among the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world, it was founded by John VI, Kin ...

and was undergraduate in Geology for the University of Brasília (UnB). Bernardo was married to Federal Deputy Gleisi Hoffmann (PT).

Political career

Bernardo joined politics through unionism as a member of the director's board of the Paraná Bank Officers Union. He was Federal Deputy from Paraná in 3 legislatures (1991–1995, 1995–1999 and 2003–2005). In this period, he also held the offices of State Secretary of Finances of

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, and ...

between January 1999 and December 2000 and Municipal Secretary of Finances of Londrina between January 2001 and March 2002.

Electoral results

Minister

On 22 March 2005, he licensed from his term as Federal Deputy to take office as Minister of Planning, Budget and Management, during the government of the then president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He was also part of Dilma Rousseff's government since the beginning, as Minister of Communications. One of the goals of his administration was to reinforce the National Broadband Plan. In January 2015, in the ministerial reform of the transition for Dilma's second term, Ricardo Berzoini assumed Bernardo's seat.

Controversies

Operation Car Wash

In March 2016, he was indicted by the Federal Police for passive corruption in Car Wash.

Prison

He was arrested during one of the offshoots of Operation Car Wash, entitled

Operation Brazil Cost A long series of criminal investigations have occurred in Brazil associated with Operation Car Wash, since the first one began in March 2014. These investigations are considered offshoots of the original Phases of Operation Car Wash, phased inves ...

of the Federal Police on 23 June 2016, being released a week later, on 29 June 2016, by

Supreme Federal Court The Supreme Federal Court ( pt, Supremo Tribunal Federal, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the Constitutional Court of the country. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for consti ...

Justice Dias Toffoli, who considered the prison a "blatant illegal constraint". Bernardo is the main suspect in the involvement of embezzlement of public resources in the Ministry of Planning. Paulo Bernardo, according to the investigations, was connect to a bribery payment regarding contracts of services provision of computing by the company Consist by the cost of R$ 100 million ( US$ in 2015), between 2010 and 2015, emblezzed from federal government employees who did a payroll loan. On 1 August 2016, he was charged by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) for the crimes of

criminal organization Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

, passive

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

, along with other 19 people. Paulo Bernardo is accused of receiving resources from a fraud scheme in the contract of management of payroll loans in the Ministry of Planning. On 4 August, the Federal Justice accepted the MPF complaint and Paulo Bernardo became a defendant, accused of frauding a service of payroll loans to government employees.

Defendant in the Supreme Court

On 27 September 2016, he became a defendant from another lawsuit in the

. The Second Group of the Supreme Court unanimously accepted the complaint presented by the Prosecutor-General of the Republic against Paulo Bernardo and his then wife Gleisi Hoffmann in Operation Car Wash.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernardo, Paulo 1952 births Living people Politicians from São Paulo Brazilian trade unionists Workers' Party (Brazil) politicians Government ministers of Brazil Brazilian politicians convicted of corruption