São Paulo city hall cuts benefits from 14,000 members of Bolsa Família program

São Paulo Municipal Department for Development and Social Assistance suspended the payment of 14,227 members of the Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer program, which was created by former president Lula for lower-income families. The payment was suspended as recommended by the Federal Prosecution Service (MPF). Members with payment suspended will be sought by the city's government, by letter or in person, for verification. The payments were suspended last Friday (Jan. 20).

To continue receiving the payment, the members have to prove they meet the program's requirements. The cases that remain suspected of irregularity after verification will be sent to the MPF in São Paulo for criminal and civil investigations. Since last May, 943 members of the Bolsa Família program were either excluded, blocked or suspended from the program.

"More than identifying the gaps in oversight or punishing people who have received the benefits from Bolsa Família, at this moment, this work aims at correcting distortions and cutting undue benefits. A criminal action can only be filed if evidence collected confirm a fraud to obtain the benefit," said, in a note, federal prosecutor Anamara Osório Silva, who recommended the revision of benefits.

The prosecutor launched investigation after receiving data from a national survey carried out by the MPF. Through an intelligence tool, the body crossed data from 2013 to May 2016, retrieved by the federal government, the Superior Electoral Court, Internal Revenue Service and local courts of accounts.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta