Companies targeted by the PF acted in bodies linked to the PP

Chamber of Deputies

Diversion of MEC funds for the purchase of robotics kits, which put Arthur Lira’s advisor in the crosshairs, is just the tip of a tangled business

Brasilia DF) – More than suspicious purchases for public schools and the dubious relationships of an advisor to the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the routine of two money deliverers caught by the Federal Police (PF) lays bare a network of people and companies interconnected with other ministries and public bodies — and involved in millionaire contracts with various evidence of fraud and fingerprints of the former PP, today Progressives, Arthur Lira’s party.

The PF’s investigation, which began by going after the overpricing of robotics kits at the Ministry of Education (MEC) and shed light on the alleged involvement of Luciano Cavalcante, Lira’s faithful advisor, collided with other state suppliers for works and services such as security, cleaning and even waste collection. In the federal government, these firms are or were ministries such as Cities, Infrastructure and Agriculture.

Even within the MEC, the initial focus of the police, the tentacles go beyond robotics kits — and on these other fronts there are also signs of irregularities. Two federal educational institutions headquartered in the state of Lira, for example, put money into one of the investigated companies: the Federal Institute of Alagoas (IFAL) and the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) closed more than R$ 13 million in contracts with company BRA Serviços Administrativos Ltda.

BRA is owned by civil police officer from Alagoas Murilo Sérgio Jucá Nogueira Junior. According to investigations, he is linked to the address where, on the day the operation started, the PF found R$ 4 million in cash inside a safe. He is also the owner of a used car both for delivering values ​​in the scheme and for Lira’s campaign for deputy in the 2022 elections.

Murilo’s company’s most recent contract is for the provision of driver services. It was signed on September 30 of last year with IFAL, for R$ 1.2 million. With a detail that draws attention to other frauds behind the payments of federal funds to the companies in the scheme: another firm of the police officer, Reluzir Serviços Terceirizados Ltda, participated in the competition, bidding on the same auction, which indicates that the contract was closed from a prearranged game.

PP connection

In Brasilia, the definitive entry of the group of companies linked to the scheme into the local public procurement market has nothing to do with the Ministry of Education — but was also marked by suspicion. The story begins with a bid waiver for cleaning hospitals by the government of the Federal District, in 2019. It was when the same BRA Serviços Administrativos Ltda, at the time a foreign firm in the city, won a contract worth almost BRL 70 million in the city without a bid. Health’s Secretary.

The victory, unexpected, generated revolt among local competitors. Since then, there has been a controversial pattern of action. The deadline for submitting documents for those who wanted to participate in the competition ended at 10 am on June 6, 2019. But the BRA did not comply with the established rule. It turned out that the certificates she presented were issued nine hours later — and the government system accepted it, which, in itself, already pointed to the existence of some kind of favoritism for the company from Alagoas.

*With information from Metrópoles

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