Ghost employee and two former directors of the RS Regional Nursing Council are convicted of embezzling R$425,000

The 6th Federal Court of Porto Alegre sentenced a former president, a former secretary and a former employee of Coren-RS (Regional Nursing Council of Rio Grande do Sul) for acts of administrative improbity that resulted in the diversion of approximately R$ 425 thousand.

According to information released on Tuesday (26) by the Federal Court, the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) filed a lawsuit alleging that the former employee had been appointed to hold the position of trust as head of the Administrative Department of Coren-RS, but he never actually worked in that role.

According to the agency, the trio convicted by the courts were responsible for embezzling R$425,028.57, between July 2012 and January 2015, as the employee received a monthly salary of R$8,468 during the period. According to the MPF, “those responsible for administrative services were not even aware that she was the head of the sector to which they were linked”, and it was found that the appointee rarely attended the municipality’s headquarters, where all administrative activity is carried out. . According to the MPF, she used the Coren Historical and Cultural Center for activities of particular interest.

The defenses of the two directors contested, claiming that she was not a “ghost employee”, but that the hiring was approved by the plenary and the presidency of the board. The former employee argued, reiterating the defense of the former managers, that there was no act of impropriety.

When analyzing the case, federal judge Felipe Veit Leal found that, in January 2015, the Human Resources Department informed the Coren-RS presidency about the irregularities committed by the employee, which led to her dismissal. The dismissal was based on the finding that the employee was regularly absent from her duties.

Based on the commission report carried out administratively to investigate the case, Leal found that the former employee failed to fulfill the responsibilities of her position, as well as being repeatedly absent from her activities. According to a report, the woman attended only six of the 23 coordination meetings held during the period.

The testimonies of Coren-RS employees led the magistrate to further assess that the only activities that took place in the Historic Center and the Cultural Center were related to surveillance and cleaning, and therefore it was not necessary to hire the former employee, since the Services were performed by outsourced workers. This record led the judge to confirm the fraud of the two directors, responsible for hiring the then employee.

The three defendants were convicted of acts of administrative improbity, in the form of illicit enrichment. The judge sentenced the president and secretary to reimburse R$425,000 to public coffers, plus a civil fine of R$82,000, as well as the suspension of political rights and a ban on receiving benefits or tax incentives for eight years. The employee, in turn, was also sentenced to the suspension of public rights and the prohibition of receiving benefits, in addition to paying a civil fine of the same amount, and also to the loss of the illicitly acquired assets, of R$425 thousand.

The decision may be appealed to the TRF4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region).