The Federal Police launched today (30) Operation Custo Maior, to expand investigations into irregularities in the concession and consulting structure of assistance to policyholders of the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) in Campinas (SP) by middlemen.
In addition to the Federal Police, the Federal Public Ministry and the General Coordination of Social Security and Labor Intelligence, of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, together with the INSS, participate in the action. The investigations are based on the analysis of materials seized in Operação Custo Previdenciário, carried out in August 2018, also in Campinas.
Operation Custo Maior showed that there were more people involved and not identified in the previous action, who were directly related to the INSS server, already fired and sentenced by the Federal Court.
The irregularities and infractions found were privileged service, with waiver of password or personal attendance when required; external meetings (in restaurants, cafeterias and gas stations on the highway) and even on weekends and at night; collection or delivery of documents outside the INSS agency; document retention and storage in unauthorized locations; manipulation of the agenda (postponing or bringing forward the date); calculations in disagreement with the legislation and insertion of false information in the Social Security system.
In total, during the investigation, 13 new benefits were identified with the actions of these middlemen and which have already been paid by the INSS, adding up to approximately R$ 2 million in losses to the Federal Government.
This Thursday, two search and seizure warrants were carried out, issued by the 9th Federal Court in Campinas, in the residences of the investigated who currently live in the municipality of São Paulo. The seized materials will be sent to the Federal Police Station in Campinas.
It is estimated that the investigation and suspension of the 13 identified benefits avoided losses to the Union of around BRL 9 million.
The name of the operation (Custo Maior) alludes to the increase in the impact of fraud on Social Security in relation to the previous phase, called Custo Social Security, which had already avoided more than R$ 4 million in losses.
The investigated will answer, according to their conduct, for the offenses of inserting false information in the database (Article 313-A, CP) and criminal association (Article 288), of the Penal Code. Penalties can reach 15 years in prison.
