[4] On 22 March 2005, he licensed from his term as Federal Deputy to take office as Minister of Planning, Budget and Management, during the government of the then president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

[11] Paulo Bernardo, according to the investigations, was connect to a bribery payment regarding contracts of services provision of computing by the company Consist by the cost of R$ 100 million (US$ 30,058,011.96 in 2015), between 2010 and 2015, emblezzed from federal government employees who did a payroll loan.

[12] On 1 August 2016, he was charged by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) for the crimes of criminal organization, passive corruption and money laundering, along with other 19 people.

[13] On 4 August, the Federal Justice accepted the MPF complaint and Paulo Bernardo became a defendant, accused of frauding a service of payroll loans to government employees.

The Second Group of the Supreme Court unanimously accepted the complaint presented by the Prosecutor-General of the Republic against Paulo Bernardo and his then wife Gleisi Hoffmann in Operation Car Wash.[16][17][18]