TCU Finds Treasury Guarantee to Correios Violated Fiscal Law

Overview

• The TCU plenary, which voted on May 27, formally notified the executive of analytical failures, ordered creation of monitoring mechanisms within 120 days and demanded detailed quarterly reports from Correios.
• Technical auditors concluded the Treasury and other federal bodies accepted Correios’ financial projections without independent, sufficient or timely validation, a shortfall the relator Benjamin Zymler said breaches the Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal.
• Correios contracted a R$ 12 billion syndicated loan at the end of 2025 backed by a Union guarantee and the loan contract foresees at least R$ 6 billion in additional government aportes through 2027, exposing the Treasury to immediate payment demands if those aportes do not occur.
• The court stopped short of annulling the reorganization plan or imposing immediate punishments but opened a separate administrative investigation to probe individual responsibility that could lead to future sanctions.
• The decision raises near-term fiscal risk because Correios reported an R$ 8.5 billion loss in 2025, negative equity and repeated quarterly deficits, and the government must now validate recovery assumptions to avoid the state taking on the company’s debt or a collapse that would affect services and jobs.