Federal Prosecutor's Office does not request preventive detention and Juquinha leaves prison.
Prosecutor Hélio Telho says that the objective of Operation Trem Pagador was achieved with the identification of assets acquired illegally and their seizure to prevent their transfer to third parties.
The former president of Valec, José Francisco das Neves, left the Federal Police jail yesterday, where he had been held since last Thursday by order of the Federal Court in Operation Trem Pagador. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, Juquinha is accused of embezzling funds from the construction of the North-South Railway when he presided over the state-owned company and of illicit enrichment.
The coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Goiás, Hélio Telho, told the newspaper Diário da Manhã that the Public Prosecutor's Office does not intend to request the preventive detention of Juquinha or his family members. "This action is solely aimed at identifying assets acquired illegally, seizing them to prevent their transfer to third parties, financially crippling the criminal organization, inspecting the assets, and recovering the misappropriated public funds," he concluded.
Operation Pay Train is a series of investigations conducted by the Federal Police in conjunction with the Public Prosecutor's Office, and has been ongoing since mid-2011. According to Hélio Telho, the operation aims to investigate possible crimes of "money laundering, overpricing in public works, bid rigging, and conspiracy."
In addition to Juquinha, his wife, Marivone Ferreira das Neves, and son, Jader Ferreira das Neves, were also arrested. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, Juquinha is accused of overpricing Section 4 of the FNS (North-South Railway) by approximately R$ 90 million, and of that total, approximately R$ 60 million were allegedly embezzled.
In this lawsuit filed against Juquinha, his family, and third parties, prosecutors sought to recover the public funds allegedly embezzled. The federal delegate responsible for the operation, Eduardo Sherer, explained that in addition to the seized real estate, vehicles were also confiscated by court order to guarantee the restitution of the funds considered to have been diverted from Valec's projects. "The aim is to ensure that those involved in the criminal practices do not benefit from the proceeds of crime and that public funds are recovered," he explained.
Juquinha das Neves was president of Valec, a state-owned company linked to the Ministry of Transport and responsible for the railway construction. His tenure at the head of Valec was from 2003 to 2010. During this period, the railway line crossed the entire state of Tocantins and advanced through Goiás to Anápolis, without being fully operational.
Section 4 was awarded in a bidding process and executed by Constran S/A, and was already the subject of an administrative misconduct lawsuit. For investigators, there is clear evidence of illicit enrichment by Juquinha, who used his wife and children to launder the embezzled money and acquire assets "obtained illegally."
"Investigations into the overpricing revealed that Juquinha, his wife, and children acquired vast real estate assets, such as farms, plots of land, houses in gated communities, and apartments, and established companies to manage these properties," explained prosecutor Hélio Telho.