Public Prosecutor's Office opens inquiry to investigate Assembly.

Alagoas247 - Through the decree, several executive bodies of the Public Prosecutor's Office will form the team responsible for the investigations. From the State Group for Combating Criminal Organizations (Gecoc), the prosecutors Alfredo Gaspar de Mendonça Neto, Luiz Tenório Oliveira de Almeida, Elísio da Silva Maia Júnior, Antônio Luis dos Santos Filho, and Hamilton Carneiro Júnior will be part of the team. From the Asset Protection Units of the 1st and 2nd Operational Support Centers (CAO), the members will be José Carlos Silva Castro, Napoleão José Calheiros Correia de Melo Amaral Franco, and Tácito Yuri de Melo Barros.

Prosecutor Fernanda Maria Moreira de Almeida, a member of the 1st Working Group to Combat Administrative Impropriety, and George Sarmento Lins Júnior and Jamyl Gonçalves Barbosa, from the State Public Treasury Prosecutor's Office, are also part of the group. Criminal prosecutors Maurício André Barros Pitta, Karla Padilha Rebelo Marques, Marluce Falcão de Oliveira, and Givaldo Barros Lessa complete the group of members who will coordinate the activities. All of them will work in partnership with the Attorney General, who will continue to lead the investigations.

"The information provided by the state representative reports the alleged practice of acts of administrative misconduct in the current administration of the Legislative Branch of the State of Alagoas and, consequently, may violate the provisions of Law No. 8.429/1992, which is the legal norm that deals with acts of misconduct. Therefore, as it is an institutional function of the Public Prosecutor's Office to defend the legal order, and the institution is granted the legitimacy to carry out measures aimed at holding public officials accountable for acts of administrative misconduct committed, we are obliged to investigate the matter and, if the irregularities are proven, to adopt the appropriate measures in the civil and criminal fields," informed Attorney General Sérgio Jucá.

The first step has already been defined: a formal request, asking for detailed information on a series of issues, will be sent to the Legislative Assembly of Alagoas (ALE/AL) with a deadline for the responses to be sent to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Alagoas (MPE/AL).

Last week, the preliminary procedures adopted by the Attorney General's Office to analyze the case came to an end. On the 06th, the Director-General of the Legislative Assembly, Luciano Amaral, delivered documentation to Attorney General Sérgio Jucá in response to a request made by the State Public Prosecutor's Office regarding allegations of irregularities in the payroll of the Tavares Bastos House. This was the opportunity given by the MPE/AL (State Public Prosecutor's Office of Alagoas) to the Legislative Board of Directors to exercise their right to reply. However, the material was considered insufficient by the MPE/AL to decide against opening a public civil inquiry.

Previously, on July 30th, Sérgio Jucá had sent official letters to the Federal Police and the Federal Revenue Service requesting appropriate measures, given that the complainant alleged irregularities in the collection of federal taxes. In official letter no. 568/13, dated July 29th, sent to the regional superintendent of the Federal Police in Alagoas, Omar Gabriel Haj Mussi, the Attorney General explained that, in the document sent to the Public Prosecutor's Office, João Henrique Caldas mentions 'income tax collection inconsistent with the amount spent on personnel' and also the 'lack of proof of payment of social security contributions to the INSS, even though there was withholding from the payroll'. A similar letter was also sent to the delegate of the Federal Revenue Service in Alagoas, Edmundo Tojal Donato Júnior. The same allegations were made, and the request from the Public Prosecutor's Office of Alagoas was for 'legal action to be taken' regarding the matter. Both the Federal Police and the Internal Revenue Service received a copy of the CD containing the Assembly's payroll for the year 2011.
Case
At the end of June this year, Representative João Henrique Caldas held a press conference to announce that the current Board of Directors of the Legislative Assembly of Alagoas (ALE/AL) was illegally manipulating the Parliament's payroll. He alleged that the leaders of the House of Tavares Bastos had irregularly withdrawn more than R$ 4,5 million from Caixa Econômica Federal in a 'mysterious' manner. The state representative also spoke again about the payment of bonuses to commissioned employees. A total of R$ 17,5 million had been allocated for this purpose in 2011 alone, also, according to him, in violation of the law.

With gazetaweb.com and press office