Army released weapons to those convicted of murder, says TCU report

weaknesses

Document is the result of the analysis of weapons and ammunition records issued during Jair Bolsonaro’s administration

Proof of suitability for people who requested authorization from the Army to handle firearms, between 2019 and 2022, has “serious weaknesses”.

The conclusion is from the Federal Audit Court (TCU), in an audit that analyzed the Hunters, Shooters and Collectors (CACs) licenses issued in the period.

70,646 police reports, 9,387 arrest warrants and 19,479 criminal execution processes were identified relating to individuals registered in the Army’s weapons control system, Sigma.

According to the report, this means that the corporation issued licenses to those convicted of drug trafficking and homicide, for example.

CACs with open arrest warrants and citizens who may have been used as targets for organized crime were also identified. Around 22,000 people are registered in CadÚnico, the federal government’s database of the low-income population.

The inspection also found that “dead people” purchased more than 16 thousand pieces of ammunition during the period analyzed. And 21,442 weapons are registered in the name of people who have already died.

According to the confidential document, the inspection request was motivated by the regulatory relaxation of arms control by the then president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and by news published in the media pointing out deficiencies in the data stored by the Army Command relating to weapons and ammunition.

In another part of the report, TCU technicians state that the Army does not check the habituality of sports shooters, a characteristic that defines them, when renewing the weapons registration certificate.

“Nor does it verify the veracity of the usual information during inspections of shooting entities”, he adds.

The audit also found incomplete or inconsistent records about weapons and their respective owners, such as the absence of professional addresses in 79.94% of individual records, or the absence of seller or invoice data relating to the registered firearm.

Another flaw highlighted is the lack of data relating to institutional weapons of the Armed Forces, military police, fire departments and the Institutional Security Office (GSI) of the Presidency of the Republic.

Within this context, according to the document, the Armed Forces and police bodies subordinate to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security have granted weapons to their members without systematic investigations being carried out regarding their suitability or psychological fitness.

In view of the findings, the document lists some conduct that needs to be modified by the Army, in the sense of: “adopting measures regarding records identified as potentially irregular; create a computerized system to manage inspections; internalization and improvement of Sicovem; register institutional weapons in Sigma; between others”.

Additionally, recommendations were proposed for the implementation by the Army and other bodies of routines for monitoring irregular situations and searching in Administration databases.

The CNJ was recommended to evaluate the possibility of creating a unified criminal certificate.

When contacted by CNN, the Army Command, the Ministry of Justice and former president Jair Bolsonaro, so far, have not commented on the matter.

*With information from CNN Brasil

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