Loans from Santander fuel fraud scheme in Brasília.
The fraud amounts to more than R$ 4 million, which is the total amount of loans granted by the bank, via Credisete, exceeding the limits allowed for payroll loans.
247 – Employees in the Esplanada dos Ministérios (government buildings area), working for the Federal Senate and the Air Force, are victims of a fraud and loan sharking scheme based on fraudulent debt refinancing. The swindle has already reached over R$ 4 million in employee salaries. The scheme, which operates through loans granted by Santander, via Credisete, a credit institution in Sete Lagoas, is driving debtors to despair. To pay off the accumulating loans, many have gone months without pay and are already joining forces to fight in court to recover their salaries.
According to the newspaper O Globo, Santander stated it was unaware of any irregularities, and Credisete, also contacted by the newspaper, did not comment. Meanwhile, the "pastinhas," sellers of payroll loans, operate freely on the premises of the Senate and the Air Force, using the name of Abrão de Queiroz Garcia, a supposed lawyer. Garcia allegedly set up a scheme with a judge from Teresina who issues injunctions to suspend the collection of the loans.
This allows, even with judicial restrictions, new loans to be contracted at the maximum limit of the permitted margin, with a 35% commission on the amount borrowed. Retired Federal Senate employees are taking out loans of up to R$ 900, the maximum limit allowed by the Senate for retirees. However, banks are able to overturn the injunctions, and the salaries of these employees are insufficient to cover the total amount financed.