Source: Jornal do Comércio - RS - 12/11/2009

Rio Grande do Sul stopped collecting R $ 1,5 billion between 2003 and 2008 due to fraud in adulteration of fuels. The amount was disclosed this Thursday by the president of the Union of Technicians of the State Treasury (Afocefe), Elton Nietiedt, in the 11th Sefaz Debate, whose theme was Fraud and Adulterations in Fuels, in the Legislative Assembly. According to Nietiedt, while in these five years the country had a growth in the collection of fuels of the order of 16,66%, Rio Grande do Sul suffered a fall of 5,29%.

Data from the National Union of Fuel Distributors (Sindicom), indicate that, in the same period, gasoline consumption increased 16% in the State. Demand for alcohol more than doubled, with an increase of 108%. "With an increase in this level, and without falling prices, only tax evasion can explain the reduction in taxes collected," said the president of Afocefe. According to information from the National Union of Technicians of the Federal Revenue (Sindireceita), 20% to 30% of the fuels sold in Rio Grande do Sul are adulterated. The main frauds are the addition of solvent and alcohol above what is allowed in gasoline, the mixing of water in alcohol and the permission to sell fuels without legal origin.

The President of the Assembly, Deputy Ivar Pavan (PT), said that the placing of the fiscal seal on the pumps of fuel distributors could solve the problem and suggested the creation of a task force formed by police officers, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Secretariat of Finance . The commercial manager of Companhia Brasileira de Petróleo Ipiranga, Wagner Calvatti, agreed with the seriousness of the situation, but pointed out the exacerbated competition, created by the high tax burden, as one of the causes of the problem. 

Nietiedt also criticized the work of the Secretariat of Finance, which, according to him, does not carry out an inspection as intensive as in other states. “In Rio Grande do Sul, remote monitoring is carried out, checking only what is launched in the system. But products that are illegal and transit on the roads are not in the system, ”he said. As an example of the need for preventive inspection, the director cited the example of two distribution companies that were fined, this year, in the amount of R $ 100 million, when the share capital they own reaches only R $ 1 million. “This means that the fraud will never be paid, and will go into the State's active debt. We cannot allow fraudulent actions to accumulate. ”

According to Paulo Boamar, of the South-Brazilian Fuel Quality Committee, the solution to the inspection challenges involves intelligence actions by the security agencies. "Crime has modernized, and enforcement must also modernize, adapting to the new times."