Serra's powerful man ignored the mafia. And now?
Despite being warned about the criminal organization that may have embezzled over R$ 500 million from the coffers of the São Paulo city hall, Secretary Mauro Ricardo, appointed by José Serra to manage finances during Gilberto Kassab's administration and currently working for the Salvador city hall, ordered the case to be shelved. He stated that he received an anonymous complaint from construction companies seeking to operate legally without paying bribes and concluded there was no evidence.
247 - A news report Artur Rodrigues, Bruno Ribeiro, Fábio Leite, Diego Zanchetta and Tiago Décimo, from Estado de S. Paulo (read here (The full text), weakens the position of the former Finance Secretary of São Paulo, who now manages a similar area in Salvador, under the administration of ACM Netto.
Appointed to the position by José Serra, Mauro Ricardo had a golden opportunity to dismantle the criminal organization that may have embezzled around R$ 500 million from the municipal coffers of São Paulo. Last year, an anonymous complaint, sent by construction companies that intended to act legally, without paying bribes, exposed the entire scheme, including the names of the individuals arrested this week.
However, on December 28th of last year, just days before leaving the mayor's office, Mauro Ricardo ordered the case to be shelved. The anonymous complaint was dated October 29th and its authorship was attributed to "builders who respect the laws".
The entire map of corruption had been detailed: "The issuance of the ISS tax clearance certificate is controlled by an employee, Luis Alexandre, from Rio de Janeiro, who – according to himself – on orders from his superiors Carlos di Lallo, Barcellos, and Ronilson, can only issue it upon payment of a bribe." The text provided further details: "Those who don't pay the bribe are doomed to see their business fail. Without the bribe, there's no way the payment receipt will be issued."
Without this clearance certificate, construction companies were prevented from starting new real estate projects. Brookfield, one of the largest in the country, has already confirmed paying R$ 4,1 million in bribes to this same gang and claims to be a "victim" of the organization.
When contacted by reporters, Mauro Ricardo said he was "surprised" by the arrest of the quartet, especially Ronilson, who was his right-hand man. "He was someone I trusted, always very helpful. It was a disappointment. If he did this, I feel betrayed," he stated. "As soon as the complaints reached the department, I requested the opening of an administrative process, in which the accused were called to justify themselves," he states. "They presented their justifications, and these were taken to the legal department, which analyzed the responses and concluded that there was no evidence of the employees' involvement."
However, a simple survey of the employees' assets – which total millions in luxury properties, vehicles, and even boats – would be enough to attest to the credibility of the accusation, to which the secretary turned a blind eye.