PF investigates embezzlement of R$ 1.7 billion from SUS

The Federal Police, the General Comptroller of the Union (CGU) and the Federal Revenue Service carried out this Tuesday (30/4) 49 search and seizure warrants against 42 targets in five city halls in the state of Pará, in addition to Barueri/SP.

More than 150 police officers and public servants work in the operation that investigates crimes against the public administration, the national financial system and money laundering worth around R$1.7 billion. O Mail found, together with sources in the PF, that the deviations investigated occurred between the years 2017 and 2022.

According to the Federal Police, the crimes were committed by individuals, who used legal entities linked to the urban sanitation sector. The investigations carried out to date have identified evidence of bidding crimes involving resources from the Unified Health System (SUS), transfer of undue amounts to public servants from several city halls in the state of Pará, money laundering using shell companies and oranges, in addition to the possible practice of currency evasion through offshore located in a tax haven.

The General Comptroller of the Union identified that tenders and contracts related to the investigated company, financed with federal resources, especially in the health area, presented restrictions on the competitiveness and irregular qualification of the winner. According to the CGU, the misappropriated amounts should have been allocated to the areas of health, sanitation and urban cleaning, but the fraud had a direct impact on the quality of services provided in the state, worsening the situation of the population, which deals daily with the worst levels of basic sanitation. from the country.

At this stage, the objective of the Federal Police is to collect material that can prove the involvement of the suspects and clarify the participation of each agent in the possible fraud.

In addition to the search and seizure warrants, the court authorized the freezing of assets worth R$1.7 billion from the accounts of those being investigated, to return the amounts to the public coffers.

In Pará, search and seizure warrants were executed in the municipalities of Benevides, Parauapebas, Ananindeua, Santa Maria do Pará and São Miguel do Guamá.

O Mail contacted the Pará Health Department, in addition to the city halls mentioned, and is awaiting a response.

We were unable to contact São Miguel do Guamá city hall.