The Court of Justice of Maranhão (TJMA) decreed this Friday (23) intervention in the municipality of Turilândia, located 157 kilometers (km) from the state capital, São Luís. The intervention will be for a period of 180 days, and may be extended, upon new collegiate deliberation.
The mayor of the municipality, José Paulo Dantas Silva Neto, known as Paulo Curió; his wife, Eva Maria Cutrim Dantas, Eva Curió; vice-mayor Tânya Karla and former vice-mayor of Janaína Soares Lima were reported for a scheme to embezzle resources that caused more than R$56 million in damage to the coffers of the municipality of Maranhão.
It will be up to the governor of Maranhão, Carlos Brandão, to appoint the intervenor within 15 daysby means of a decree containing, among other points, the period of intervention and the extent of the administrative acts achieved.
According to the decision, intervention is restricted to the municipal Executive Branch. Legislative functions remain with the City Council. It will be up to the intervener to present a detailed report within 90 days, with a diagnosis of management and measures adopted. The court also ordered an audit of the municipality’s accounts.
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Those investigated were arrested during Operation Tântalo II, carried out on December 22 last year. Paulo Curió and Tânya Karla were removed from their duties and placed in preventive detention.
As a result, since the 26th, command of the municipality has been in the hands of the president of the City Council, José Luís Araújo Diniz, known as Pelego, also investigated in the scheme and who is under house arrest along with five other councilors from Turilândia.
According to the court decision, Araújo and ten other councilors under investigation, who are also under house arrest, were authorized to leave their homes only to participate in previously scheduled City Council sessions.
The scheme that caused damage to the coffers of Turilândia, a municipality with just over 31 thousand inhabitants and located in Baixada Maranhense, began in 2021 and occurred through the “sale” of invoices by companies that won simulated bids, including gas stations.
The Public Ministry (MP) estimated the total damage at R$56,328,937.59. The mayor and people close to him received 82% to 90% of the amounts paid by Turilândia city hall. The difference was with the businesspeople who provided the fraudulent invoices.
The investigations involve the companies Posto Turi, SP Freitas Júnior LTDA, Luminer e Serviços LTDA, MR Costa LTDA, AB Ferreira LTDA, Climatech Refrigeração e Serviços Ltda, JEC Empreendimentos, Potencial Empreendimentos e Cia Ltda, WJ Barros Consultoria Contábil and Agromais Pecuária e Piscicultura LTDA, as well as other individuals and legal entities, public servants and private individuals.
The Public Ministry highlighted that there were overpriced purchases of fuel for the city hall’s fleet of ten vehicles: one truck, three minibuses, one motorcycle, one common vehicle for ambulance use, two common vehicles for use in school transport and two passenger vehicles. In 2022 alone, the city paid for 150,250 liters of gasoline and 172,462 liters of regular diesel oil, a fuel recommended for older vehicles.
Analysis by the MP showed that, with the volume of diesel paid for, the six city hall vehicles that use the fuel would be able to travel 1,207,234 km per year. The supposed displacement corresponds to an average of around 791 km per day, approximately the distance between Turilândia and Jericoacoara, on the coast of Ceará.
The MP justified the request for intervention based on the serious compromise of public order in the municipality and considering the insufficiency of previously established judicial measures, such as preventive detention, house arrest, removal from public office, suspension of payments to companies used in the scheme and search and seizure of evidence and proceeds of crimes.
“During the launch of Operation Tântalo II, intended to comply with judicial search and seizure and arrest warrants, more than two million reais in cash were seized at the residence of one of those investigated. This fact confirms the full activity of the criminal organization, the tranquility of those involved in the reiteration of their illicit acts and reveals a true affront to the Judiciary of Maranhão, the efforts of the Public Ministry and the society of Turiland”, highlighted the Public Ministry.
