The Federal Police and the Comptroller General of the Union launched, on Tuesday (22), Operation Route 156, amid signs of bidding and embezzlement of public resources in maintenance and recovery contracts of the BR-156 highway in Amapá.
The criminal organization was also being investigated for the crime of capital washing.
According to CGU, companies would have improperly received R $ 32 million in federal funds paid by the Union between 2024 and 2025. Suspected contracts would be under the responsibility of the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT).
“One of the contracted companies, after more than one year of contractual execution, was able to execute only 16%, an average of the budget for its two road maintenance contracts, a fact that denotes evidence of slowness in the physical and financial execution of the works,” said the CGU.
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According to the PF, the fraud would have covered at least four electronic trading sessions, totaling more than $ 60 million in contracts.
“PF and CGU found evidence that the group acted through the assembly of bidding events simulating competition, with fictional proposals and unduly restrictive clauses in the edicts, as well as purposeful omissions of public servants in the duty to oversee and establish administrative processes in the face of irregularities,” said the Federal Police.
Complaint
According to CGU, the works began in 2024, from a complaint received by the agency. “Surveys conducted by CGU and partner bodies in the investigation confirmed the reported facts,” he said when referring to a “alleged fraud to the competitive character of bids.”
By determination of the 4th Federal Court of the Judicial Section of Amapá, PF fulfills 11 search and seizure warrants. Six of them in Amapá; three in Minas Gerais; one in Mato Grosso do Sul; and one in the Amazon. The operation was attended by 45 federal police officers and four CGU auditors and technicians.
The precautionary removal was determined for 10 days of the Superintendent of the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) in Amapá, Marcello Vieira Linhares, and a servant of the municipality – both suspected of active participation in the scheme.
Among the measures, there is also the judicial blockade of assets and values of the investigated, in an amount of more than R $ 8 million, which, according to PF, corresponds to withdrawals and financial movements considered atypical by the investigation.
Seizure
“During one of the search in Macapá, the Federal Police seized three pistols, a 556 rifle and approximately 250 ammunition,” said the PF in reporting that one of the investigated is CAC – an acronym that refers to “collector, sports shooter and hunter, a category that has a record for firearms activities.
In Minas Gerais
In another search warrant, in the mining town of Nova Lima, three vehicles were seized from the brand Porshein addition to 13 boards works of art by Guignard and Portinari, jewelry and luxury watches.
