BRASILIA – The money diverted from Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services (MGI) and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) ended up in 17 bank accounts in four different states. Estadão found that there was R$14 million in embezzlement. Of this total, so far, there is only information that R$2 million has been recovered.
The suspicion is that there was an attack on the Federal Government’s Integrated Financial Administration System (Siafi), which is used to pay public servants, suppliers and make official transfers to states and municipalities. The deviations were made by transfers from the Union account to bank accounts via Pix. A Federal police investigates the case and the investigation is confidential.
The money was reserved for the Serpro (Federal Data Processing Service), a federal government technology company located in Brasília, but ended up in 17 different bank accounts, opened in the name of companies and individuals in four Brazilian states: Bahia, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo).
On March 28th, the eve of the Easter holidays, there were R$3.8 million from the Ministry of Management that should go to Serpro. The money, however, ended up in accounts opened in the name of three different companies: R$2 million in a furniture company in Campinas (SP), R$1 million in a construction company in Rio de Janeiro and R$763.9 thousand in an investment management company, also in the capital of Rio de Janeiro.
The government managed to recover R$2 million, but the rest ended up being withdrawn or transferred to other accounts. The ministry did not comment.
On April 16, a new attack occurred on the system and diverted R$ 10.2 million of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). The money was also supposed to go to Serpro, but it stopped in 14 different accounts, including a construction company in São Paulo, a mining company in Itaú de Minas (MG), a company that sells mineral water in Una (BA) and seven different individuals. One of the transfers, however, was cancelled.
There is still no information whether this money has been recovered or lost. When contacted, the TSE informed the Estadão that the case is under investigation by the Federal Police and remains confidential.
According to the Estadão revealed, R$5.5 million was sent to seven different individual accountsall of them open in Paulínia (SP)including beneficiaries of Bolsa Família and emergency aid in the covid-19 pandemic.
One of the payments, worth R$200,000, was rejected by the Central Bank due to an error in Pix processing. The remainder ended up being effectively transferred. The suspicion is that these people did not receive the money, but had the data used by criminals to open the accounts.
March 28
R$3.8 million was transferred from the Ministry of Management, which should have gone to Serpro. Money ended up in accounts opened in the name of three different companies
April 8
Servers received suspicious message on their cell phones via SMS with an attempt to steal data from Siafi
9th April
Servers were alerted that the SMS message was fraudulent and that, if they had clicked on a suspicious link, they should report the case to the National Treasury
April 16
A new attack occurred on the system and diverted R$10.2 million from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). Money was also supposed to go to Serpro, but it stopped in 14 different accounts
April 22nd
National Treasury issues a note confirming the misuse of credentials obtained irregularly from Siafi and says that it has implemented additional actions to reinforce the system’s security.
