Businessman Eliezer Toledo Bispo, owner of the company in Campinas (SP) that allegedly received R$2 million in embezzlement from the federal government’s payment system, Siafi, denies any connection with the scheme and says he is a victim of fraud.
“Unfortunately, the criminals, I don’t know how, got my company’s registration data and must have opened bank accounts with that data,” he told Sheet the businessman, who owns “Adonai Comércio”.
Bispo states that he did not receive any amount in the company’s true account, which has a record of operating in the furniture trade area and currently sells solar lamps.
The diverted funds were originally earmarked for a government contract for software maintenance. The amounts were pledged to Serpro (Federal Data Processing Service), but criminals used the passwords of two servers from the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services to direct the payment to Eliezer Toledo Bispo’s company.
The operation was carried out using a random Pix key at 9:42 pm on March 28, the Thursday before a public holiday (Good Friday). The irregularity was only noticed by the ministry on Monday, April 1st. The Ministry of Management said it is not commenting on the case so as not to hinder the investigations.
The businessman stated that he will file a police report about the fraud and says he does not understand how the criminals obtained so much information.
Bispo also said that it was not the first time he was the victim of a scam of this type. At the beginning of this year, also with the company’s data leaked, criminals invaded his Simples Nacional account and changed the gross revenue to lower amounts, generating tax credits to be received – amounts that also never entered the real account.
“I opened protocols at the IRS to understand what had happened, and they informed me that hackers had rectified the billing information. After registering a police report, I discovered that there were 55 refunds scheduled. With all the information, the IRS canceled everything”, he says .
The company is registered in a residential area of Campinas. The payment cites a series of commitments made to Serpro between 2023 and 2024 for evolutionary, adaptive and corrective software maintenance services.
Commitment is the first phase of spending, when the government commits to a certain payment. The actual payment, however, occurs at a later time.
According to documents obtained by the report, the government managed to recover the R$2 million after calling police authorities and the payment institution.
UNDERSTAND THE CASE
What is Siafi?
Siafi (Federal Government Integrated Financial Administration System) is an operational system developed by the National Treasury in conjunction with Serpro. It was implemented in January 1987 and, since then, it has been the main instrument used to record, monitor and control the budgetary, financial, patrimonial and accounting execution of the federal government.
It is through it that the government commits expenses (the first phase of spending, when the reserve for payment is made), as well as payments of budget allocations via the issuance of bank orders.
Who uses Siafi?
Managers of direct public administration bodies, local authorities, foundations and federal public companies and mixed capital companies that are included in the Federal Tax Budget or Social Security Budget.
What is under investigation?
Attackers used valid server credentials and accessed Siafi using the CPF and password of these managers and expense originators to operate the payments platform. The PF investigates the case with support from Abin. The government is still investigating the extent of the impacts.
