Manaus City Hall justifies itself against denunciation of expired food delivered in food baskets to families in need

Manaus City Hall said it opened an inquiry to investigate possible irregularities. (Photo: Arleson Sicsu/Semcom)

August 12, 2021

09:08

Déborah Arruda – from Cenarium

MANAUS (AM) – After Councilman Amom Mandel (no party) denouncement, on Wednesday, 11, about a possible corruption scheme in the distribution of food baskets with expired food by Manaus City Hall, through the Municipal Department of Women, Social Welfare and Citizenship (Semasc), the body has manifested, however, did not provide justification for all the charges.

In a statement released to the press, Semasc said it had access to the dossier presented by the councilman only late this morning. About the accusation that food baskets are being distributed with expired food, the secretary said that of the 15 thousand baskets contracted, 2,500 were received by the warehouse.

“Of this total received by the warehouse, by sampling, no irregularity was formalized. Given what was presented by the councilman, five food baskets with expired food, a process of inquiry will be opened to assess the conduct of the supplier company and contract inspectors,” said the department in the statement.

Another point of the denouncement was the exchange of items within the food baskets. According to Amom, the integral milk was replaced by a dairy compound, with price and quality below the signed contract; the canned meat was replaced by sardines; the coffee, which should have been 500 grams, was replaced by 250 grams. In the note, Semasc did not justify the changes, but only stated that an investigation was opened.

“On August 6, Semasc requested the opening of an inquiry to investigate the alleged irregularities related to the food baskets and the conduct of servers. It is also important to note that the councilman was in several units and only in three found this situation of baskets. Manaus has 20 Cras and our warehouse concentrates more than 275 different items, making a total of more than 374 thousand products”, he said.

Finally, in relation to irregularities in the bidding process, the department merely explained how the process works, without denying or stating the preference for the company T R do Nascimento Food Supply Eireli, which presented values higher than average, as stated the parliamentarian. “In every bidding process, the department presents the needs and the Municipal Bidding Commission (CML) conducts the electronic bidding process. In this process there are bids from several suppliers. Finally, there is a winning bidder and the process returns to the department to be approved.