Congressional Panel Summons Gov. Romeu Zema to Testify in INSS Payroll-Loan Inquiry

Overview

• Congress’s CPMI on the INSS approved a request by Deputy Rogério Correia to compel Zema’s testimony about Zema Financeira’s consignado operations.
• The request highlights the firm’s fully online lending to retirees and pensioners and warns of elevated fraud risk for elderly clients.
• In an official letter to the commission, Zema said he left the company’s administration in 2018 and argued the board should provide operational details.
• The convocation was approved in a symbolic vote after debate between opposition and allies, with Deputy Bia Kicis registering a contrary vote.
• A separate bid to obtain Coaf financial intelligence and to break the company’s bank and tax secrecy was rejected, and the hearing date will be scheduled as federal probes cite more than R$6 billion in losses to INSS beneficiaries.