Target of the Federal Police, Lourenço resigns as president of Cesp.
The government of São Paulo released a statement announcing that Laurence Casagrande Lourenço, the main target of Operation "Pedra no Caminho", launched this Thursday (21), resigned from the presidency of Companhia Energética de São Paulo (Cesp) "to defend himself against the accusations"
SP 247 - The São Paulo government released a statement announcing that Laurence Casagrande Lourenço, the main target of Operation "Pedra no Caminho", launched this Thursday (21), resigned from the presidency of the Companhia Energética de São Paulo (Cesp) "to defend himself against the accusations". The company's financial director, Almir Fernando Martins, will assume the position on an interim basis. Lourenço was arrested by agents at the end of the morning this Thursday.
The operation investigates the embezzlement of public funds in the construction of the Rodoanel highway, in the Northern section. According to the investigations, the overpricing in the works may have caused an impact of R$ 600 million on the project's cost. Last year, he served as Secretary of Transportation and Logistics for then-Governor Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB), the current PSDB presidential candidate.
The investigation began in 2016, due to a complaint filed by a former employee of a company that worked on the project. The employee provided the Federal Police with information about possible manipulations in the addenda to the Rodoanel contract. The aim of the fraud was allegedly to increase the amount paid to the contractors who had won the bid for the project.