Capez will be heard in September by the School Meal Investigation Committee.
The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) investigating irregularities in school lunch programs in São Paulo approved the summons of the president of the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo (Alesp), Fernando Capez (PSDB); the deputy was mentioned in the testimony of lobbyist Marcel Ferreira Júlio, considered one of the masterminds of the bid-rigging scheme.
The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) investigating irregularities in school lunch programs in São Paulo approved the summons of the president of the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo (Alesp), Fernando Capez (PSDB). The deputy was mentioned in the testimony of lobbyist Marcel Ferreira Júlio, considered one of the masterminds of the bid-rigging scheme.
According to the press office of the CPI president, state deputy Marcos Zerbini (PSDB), the request was approved at yesterday's session (17) of the commission. Capez is expected to give statements from the second half of September. The president of Alesp has denied any involvement in the embezzlement.
Also heard during yesterday's session were two former employees of the Organic Family Farming Cooperative of Bebedouro (Coaf), João Roberto Fossaluza and Caio Pereira Chaves, as well as the cooperative's former director, Carlos Eduardo da Silva, who also worked at the State Department of Agriculture.
Operation Alba Branca
Launched on January 19th, Operation Alba Branca investigates a fraud scheme in the purchase of food for school lunches by municipalities and the São Paulo state government. According to the Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime (Gaeco) of Ribeirão Preto, the fraud in the school lunch contracts, carried out between 2013 and 2015, amounts to R$ 7 million, with R$ 700 destined for the payment of bribes and illicit commissions.
According to Gaeco, the crimes involve 20 municipalities: Americana, Araras, Assis, Bauru, Caieiras, Campinas, Colômbia, Cotia, Mairinque, Mairiporã, Mogi das Cruzes, Novaes, Paraíso, Paulínia, Pitangueiras, Ribeirão Pires, São Bernardo do Campo, Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Santos, and Valinhos.
Coaf is suspected of defrauding the public procurement system, which involves acquiring products from small agricultural producers. To this end, a thousand small producers were registered, but only 30 or 40 actually conducted business. There were also transactions with large producers and at the state's central supply center.