Debt would be around R$41 million, says MP MPRN/Disclosure The City of Natal and the Fundação Cultural Capitania das Artes (Funcarte) accumulate a debt of R$41.7 million with artists, cultural producers, suppliers and parliamentary amendments, according to a public civil action filed by the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Norte (MPRN). In the action, the body asks the Court to force the municipality to disclose the list of creditors, present a payment schedule and suspend new hires due to unenforceability with individual fees above R$500,000 until the liabilities are reduced. ? Click here to follow the g1 RN channel on WhatsApp Among the complaints are the lack of public notices for development, lack of transparency regarding the payment order of creditors and the non-transfer of resources arising from mandatory parliamentary amendments. The MPRN states that it used two technical reports prepared by the Budget and Public Policy Laboratory (LOPP) to support the action. The documents analyzed Funcarte's budget execution and the details of the debts accumulated by the body. READ ALSO: Natal City Hall is ordered to pay R$300,000 to Taty Girl Fees from São João de Natal range from R$5,000 to R$850,000 The action was proposed by the 49th Public Prosecutor's Office of Natal following complaints filed by cultural producers, artists and parliamentarians. Natal City Hall informed that the Municipal Attorney General's Office will analyze the content of the action when it is subpoenaed. Most of the debt is from services already provided. According to the Public Ministry, of the total R$41.7 million in debts, R$34.1 million — equivalent to 81.82% — correspond to expenses already settled by the public administration. In practice, this means that the services have already been performed, checked and certified by the administration, but payments have not yet been made. Still according to the survey, R$7.58 million (18.18% of liabilities) refer to mandatory parliamentary amendments that were not paid by Funcarte and the Municipal Department of Culture. Within the R$34.1 million of operational obligations, the MP points out that: 79.04% correspond to higher value contracts; 17.41% are expenses arising from bidding exemptions; 3.55% refers to lower value obligations with cultural producers and artists. Report highlights concentration of resources in events Another point highlighted by the Public Ministry is the way in which cultural resources were distributed in 2025. According to the accounting report cited in the action, 96.3% of the resources committed by Funcarte for festivities were allocated to holding events, totaling R$60.6 million. In the same period, funding policies through public notices received R$2.34 million. For the MP, the concentration of resources on festivities, combined with the accumulation of late payments and the lack of disclosure of the chronological order of creditors, compromises the transparency of the management of public resources and makes it difficult for cultural workers to access the amounts they have to receive. Public Ministry demands transparency In the action, the MPRN states that the lack of disclosure of the payment queue prevents artists, cultural producers and suppliers from monitoring when the amounts will be paid. Therefore, the body asks the Court to order City Hall and Funcarte to publish a unified chronological list of creditors, allowing all interested parties to follow the order of payments. The Public Ministry also requests that a structured plan be drawn up to pay off debts, prioritizing lower-value obligations and pending parliamentary tax amendments. Furthermore, it asks the municipality to present a detailed plan for publishing cultural notices in 2026. Suspension of new fees above R$500,000 Among the requests made to the Court, one of the main ones is the granting of an injunction to prevent the municipality from carrying out new contracts due to the unenforceability of bidding with individual fees exceeding R$500,000 until the liabilities are resolved. According to the Public Ministry, the measure seeks to avoid an increase in expenses while payments to artists, cultural producers and other creditors in the sector remain pending.