Warrants Issued Against Santa Catarina Governor Suspected of Embezzlement

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Santa Catarina State Governor Carlos Moisés was the target of a search and seizure warrant on Wednesday, September 30th, in an investigation by the federal public prosecutors’ office (MPF) into alleged embezzlement in Health-related contracts.

In addition to the governor, two other former Santa Catarina government officials also had search warrants authorized by the STJ (Federal Superior Court) against them.

Moisés is currently facing two impeachment processes at ALESC (Santa Catarina Legislative Assembly). One of them is based on the suspected embezzlement that prompted the Federal Police’s search.

According to the MPF, the governor had a personal stake in the emergency purchase of 200 lung ventilators as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The purchase, in the amount of R$33 million (US$6.6 million), was made from a private company and its contract is being investigated. The ventilators were never delivered and the case has already led to the removal of the state secretaries of Health and the governor’s Chief of Staff.

Yesterday’s searches were conducted by the Federal Police (PF) with the help of 30 officers. In total, five warrants issued by the STJ were served. The operation was named Pleumon and succeeds Operation O2, conducted in May within the same investigation.

The crimes of bid-rigging, embezzlement, corruption, bribery, criminal organization, and money laundering are being investigated.

MPF sees a criminal structure

In the warrant petition made to the STJ, deputy prosecutor general Lindôra Araújo argued that the warrants were required to ascertain whether the payment order came from Moses.

The MPF is also investigating the alleged laundering of embezzled money, supposedly carried out by concealment and alienation of the source of public funds.

“Such crimes compromise Santa Catarina state government’s integrity and credibility and endanger the health and life of the entire population of Santa Catarina, affected by the ills of Covid-19,” Lindôra said in a note.

The deputy prosecutor general states that the alleged embezzlement is a “fact perpetrated in a context of purportedly organized crime, sophisticated and structured with the highest instruments of power, counting on the articulation of players with economic power, high legal expertise, strong political influence and even the highest authority of the Santa Catarina Executive Branch.”

Source: Folhapress

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