Bahian company is suspected of fraud in tenders in Bahia and Minas Gerais

A police operation against the Institute of Education and Public Health (IESP Concursos), based in the Bahian city of Serrinha, ended in the arrest of a lawyer in the city of Caratinga (MG), the mayor of São José da Lapa (MG) and a military police officer from Bahia who lived in Caruaru (PE). The president of the Institute, residing in Feira de Santana, was not located during the police action and continues to be sought. The arrests took place this Wednesday (8).

The institute is suspected of rigging competitions in Bahia. Despite being based in Serrinha, it would also have carried out several selections in other municipalities in Minas Gerais, such as those mentioned.

According to information from the Military Police of Minas Gerais, 18 search and seizure warrants were issued and carried out in Bahia, Minas Gerais and Pernambuco.

Among the main targets of the operation are four law firms, the São José da Lapa City Council, the Piedade de Caratinga City Hall, the headquarters of the Institute of Education and Public Health and the homes of those being investigated.

According to the police, the criminal organization specialized in defrauding municipal public tenders had altered the constitutive act of the Guarani and Jurema Community Association, based in Serrinha (BA), transforming it into the Institute of Education and Public Health (IESP Concursos). Thus, the Institute began to offer municipal public competitions, claiming to have more than 20 years of experience in the area.

“As it is a non-profit association, and taking advantage of the provision contained in the Bidding Law, the municipalities contracted the Institute through the bidding exemption procedure”, explained the regional delegate in Caratinga, Ivan Lopes Sales, in the material of publicity of the Civil Police of Minas.

According to an investigation by PC de Minas, after hiring IESP Concursos, facilitation was offered in the approval of people nominated by the public administrator and high-ranking municipal civil servants, which would have occurred in Piedade de Caratinga (MG). Investigations indicate that the mayor, after hiring the examining board, began to offer facilitation in the approval of the public competition by paying the amount corresponding to the first salary to be received for the position.

The Minas Civil Police intervened in the competition in Piedade de Caratinga, scanning the candidates’ answer sheets to ensure that the result corresponded to the grades.

“However, after becoming aware of the police action, a member of the Institute sent, two days before the event, the test and answer sheet in order to guarantee the approval of a lawyer, a dentist and a nurse”, explains the delegate Ivan Lopes.

Also according to PCMG, the benefited lawyer would have been responsible for hiring the Institute, using the public position he held at the time of the events, being the main interlocutor between the municipality of Piedade de Caratinga and the examining board.

The fraud in the Piedade de Caratinga competition occurred with the mediation of a military police officer from Bahia, arrested this Wednesday (8), and representative of the Institute, as well as by his wife, a lawyer allegedly responsible for changing the association’s constitutive act and that it would have powers to manage the Institute’s accounts.

The institute had as its representative in Minas the president of the Municipal Chamber of São José da Lapa, who, at the time of contracting with the municipality of Piedade de Caratinga, held the position of Secretary of Economic Development and Environment in the municipality of São José da Lapa . He would be responsible for offering and formalizing the contract, with no need for bidding, also using the work of a lawyer from Belo Horizonte to attract other municipalities interested in the fraud.

With the discovery of fraud in Piedade de Caratinga, other investigations may unfold with evidence of crimes committed in other cities.

During the execution of the search and seizure warrants, documents, computers, cell phones and R$10,000 in cash were seized.

The operation was coordinated by the Regional Police Station in Caratinga, with support from the State Department of Special Operations (Deoesp) and the civil police of Bahia and Pernambuco.

CORREIO is trying to contact the Institute of Education and Public Health (IESP Concursos).