Florianópolis Mayor Suspected of Being Part of a Criminal Organization

By Xiu Ying, Contributing Reporter

FLORIANÓPOLIS – Gean Loureiro, the mayor of Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina, was arrested yesterday, June 18th, suspected of being part of a criminal organization that allegedly violated the legal confidentiality of police operations in Santa Catarina, in addition to participating in a scheme to obstruct investigations by government agencies.

Federal Police arrested him as part of Operation Chabu, which has served six additional warrants for temporary arrest and 23 search and seizure warrants. The judicial requests were issued by the Federal 4th Regional Court (TRF-4) in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.

Questioned by news site UOL, the mayor’s press office stated that Gean Loureiro has no connection with the facts investigated by the operation, that he agreed to provide the information required and that he is waiting to testify in the Federal Police.

In addition to the mayor, federal police superintendent Fernando Caieron and former Presidential Secretary Luciano Veloso Lima, who served in the administration of Pinho Moreira (who governed Santa Catarina last year after replacing Raimundo Colombo who ran for Senate) were also arrested.

The operation’s name means malfunction, system failure. The term was used by some investigators to alert to the existence of future police operations.

According to the federal police, the criminal organization included politicians, businesspeople, and officers of the Federal Police and the Federal Highway Police in intelligence gathering services, was attempting to obstruct police investigations. The suspects allegedly paid bribes in exchange for systematic information leaks. The bribery figures were not disclosed.

The evidence suggests the practice of criminal association, passive corruption, violation of functional confidentiality, influence peddling and active corruption, according to the Federal Police.

The case file has been sealed as confidential by federal Judge Leandro Paulsen, who also acts in cases stemming from Lava Jato and Moeda Verde operations.

The mayor was released on Tuesday night, June 18th, after giving testimony.