Recently, the Ceará Legislative Assembly session featured Education Minister Camilo Santana. However, the agenda wasn’t about any public education initiative for the nation or the northeastern state. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s ally was in Fortaleza for a strictly personal matter. From the legislative headquarters of Ceará, he celebrated his wife Onélia Santana’s appointment to the State Audit Court. The secret vote concluded with 36 deputies approving her nomination, and only five opposing.
Such actions would be inconceivable in first-world countries, but not in Brazil. For context, Onélia is just the latest instance of a trend gaining momentum since the Workers’ Party (PT) regained power. With her appointment, she became the fifth minister’s wife to achieve the status of an Audit Court counselor. Onélia secured the role regardless of her professional qualifications or academic background, as she is trained as a doctor and psychopedagogue.
That’s not the end of it. Aline Peixoto, counselor for the Bahia Municipal Audit Court and wife of Chief of Staff Rui Costa, is a nurse. In Alagoas, Renata Calheiros, the spouse of Renan Filho who leads the Ministry of Transportation, has a degree in business administration with a specialty in early childhood development leadership. In Piauí, there’s business administrator and law graduate Rejane Dias and, in Amapá, retired police officer and law graduate Marília Góes. They are married to ministers Wellington Dias (Social Development) and Waldez Góes (Regional Development), respectively.
The People Foot the Bill
The cases of Onélia, Aline, Renata, Rejane, and Marília share other similarities. Before becoming ministers under Lula, their husbands served two consecutive terms as governors—in the very states where their wives became counselors. Job security, a hallmark of public service, is another privilege they have in common. The positions they’ve acquired are lifetime appointments, shielding them from dismissal until mandatory retirement at age 75.
Another commonality is their substantial salaries. The lowest is Renata’s, at R$35,400 per month, while Aline Peixoto earns R$41,000. As with any public office, whether through competitive examination or not, this money comes from taxpayers’ pockets.
The combined salaries of the five counselors amount to nearly R$200,000 monthly. Annually, this exceeds R$2.3 million. Meanwhile, their husbands, being at the federal government’s top level, earn just over R$46,000 each per month.
Economist Marina Helena argues that such situations should not be normalized. “The spree of ministers’ wives in state Audit Courts, meant to oversee state finances, continues unchecked,” said the economist, a Novo Party member and former special secretary for Privatization and Divestment during part of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. “Apparently, having ‘Lula’s minister’s wife’ on the resume is the biggest advantage.”
One of the few Ceará state deputies brave enough to oppose the nomination of Camilo Santana’s wife to the State Audit Court (TCE), Carmelo Neto (PL), emphasized that the court’s role is primarily to oversee local government spending. According to him, this responsibility might be compromised by such appointments.
“The TCE audits the state and municipal administrations,” Carmelo emphasized in a post on X. “How will Onélia have the independence to judge the accounts of Elmano [de Freitas, current governor of Ceará], whom she serves as secretary, and her husband, former governor Camilo Santana? This spree must end.”
Before becoming a counselor, Onélia worked as Secretary of Social Protection in Elmano’s administration, who, like her husband, is affiliated with the Workers’ Party. Now, with her appointment validated by the Legislative Assembly, she will transition from the Executive Branch to the State Audit Court.
The Judiciary Washes Its Hands
Despite Marina Helena and Carmelo Neto denouncing as a “spree” the increasingly common practice of ministers’ wives becoming Audit Court counselors, the judiciary has endorsed such appointments. In the most recent case involving the Camilo-Onélia couple, the Ceará judiciary dismissed a public lawsuit against the appointment of the Education Minister’s wife.
Regarding Onélia’s nomination, lawyer Antônio Carlos Fernandes, who filed the public lawsuit, questioned whether Camilo’s partner has the “notorious legal, economic, financial, and accounting knowledge” necessary for the role. However, Judge Lia Sammia de Souza Moreira of the 3rd Public Court of Fortaleza deemed the appointment legitimate, stating that Onélia “enjoys a respectable resume.”
The judiciary also turned a blind eye to another appointment involving a wife of a Lula ally. Married to Pará governor Helder Barbalho, affiliated with the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), lawyer Daniela Lima Barbalho was elected as a state Audit Court counselor in March 2023. Since then, she has received a monthly salary of R$35,400—with the certainty of holding the position for nearly three decades.
Daniela’s appointment angered part of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF). Prosecutors reminded the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) that, essentially, the counselor’s task is to oversee her own husband’s work. Violations of constitutional principles and indications of nepotism were among the issues raised.
“The first lady’s resume doesn’t demonstrate any competence or experience in accounting, economics, or finance, which are the fundamental technical skills required for the regular exercise of the position,” states a segment of the representation against Daniela submitted to the PGR. “Constitutions also impose, as a requirement for Audit Court counselors, more than ten years of function or real professional activity requiring such knowledge.”
Despite MPF prosecutors’ complaints, the judiciary saw no issue with the fact that the Pará’s first lady would oversee her husband’s work. In validating Daniela’s appointment to the Audit Court, Judge Mairton Marques Carneiro of the Pará Court of Justice merely stated that her removal from the role would cause “enormous harm” to the state.
Thus, with the judiciary’s approval and without opposition from the federal government, wives of Lula’s allies continue to proliferate in state Audit Courts. It’s confirmation that, in a government where not even the coins tossed into the reflecting pools of Brasília’s palaces escape being funneled into the National Treasury, those in power can do as they please. Lucky for their partners. Unlucky for the people, who, as always, foot the bill.
