Company is target of fraud operation in asphalt works in MS | Mato Grosso do Sul

An operation carried out by the Department for the Repression of Corruption and Organized Crime (Dracco), against fraud in the execution of contracts for asphalting work on the highway known as “Reta A1, Porto VX’, in Bataguassu”, resulted in the blocking of more than R $1 million from the company responsible for the service.

According to Dracco, searches were carried out at the company’s headquarters, in Campo Grande, through Operation Jazida. In addition to the searches, funds were also blocked from the bank accounts of those being investigated and restrictions were placed on the company’s vehicles and those of their representatives, to prevent the squandering of assets.

The operation began after complaints about irregularities in the execution of an asphalting project that began in 2022 and has not yet been completed. During the investigations, fraud was discovered related to the extraction of land used in the work. Instead of using a regular deposit as foreseen in the project, the company extracted land from an irregular deposit on private property close to the work.

The examination carried out identified that around 14,300 m³ of land were extracted from the irregular deposit, resulting in an overpricing of the contract of approximately R$ 728,544.65. Furthermore, the company still charged for transporting the material as if it had been taken from the regular deposit, which is more than 20km away, as foreseen in the budget.

Another irregularity found was the request for several amendments to the contract, approved by the Municipality of Bataguassu, increasing the total value of the contracts to over R$5 million.