Palace is experiencing a crisis, but an ally is being paid not to work.

Removed from his position by the courts almost a year ago on suspicion of bid-rigging, Luciano de Castro remains a commissioned employee of the Goiânia City Hall with a salary of R$ 11, reveals a report in the newspaper O Popular; this information comes to light on the eve of the submission of the administrative reform of the Municipal Palace to the City Council, whose objective is to reduce the high deficit of the city hall, and days after Paulo Garcia vetoed the retroactive application of the base date for permanent employees; the mayor said he had the feeling that the aide had been dismissed; the prosecutor affirms, however, that the mayor preferred to keep Luciano in the position because, by dismissing him, he would be admitting irregularities and would prejudice the defense of his ally.

March 09, 2015, 12:45 PMUpdated May 27, 2019, 09:20 AM

Removed from his position by the courts almost a year ago on suspicion of bid-rigging, Luciano de Castro remains a commissioned employee of the Goiânia City Hall with a salary of R$ 11, reveals a report by the newspaper O Popular; this information comes to light on the eve of the submission of the administrative reform of the City Hall to the City Council, whose objective is to reduce the high deficit of the city hall, and days after Paulo Garcia vetoed the retroactive application of the base date for permanent employees; the mayor said he had the feeling that the aide had been dismissed; the prosecutor, however, affirms that the mayor preferred to keep Luciano in the position because, by dismissing him, he would be admitting irregularities and would prejudice the defense of his ally (Photo: Realle Palazzo-Martini).

247 - On the eve of sending the administrative reform to the City Council, in an attempt to reduce the deficit in the accounts of the City of Goiânia, it has come to light that the former president of Comurg, Luciano de Castro, removed from office by court order, received R$ 134 thousand gross without working. The report by journalist Fabiana Pulcineli is featured on the front page of this Monday's edition (9), of the newspaper O Popular. Last week, alleging lack of money, councilors allied to the City Hall maintained Mayor Paulo Garcia's veto on the retroactive application of the base date for the permanent employees of Goiânia.

In the ruling that removed the PMDB member from office, Judge Fabiano de Aragão Fernandes, of the 2nd Municipal Public Treasury Court, recommended that Luciano receive the maximum 70% of his salary, since he did not have the power to order his dismissal, a decision that would fall to Paulo Garcia, if he deemed it appropriate. Luciano could also have resigned. He did not do so because he "was innocent," according to what he told O Popular.

Paulo Garcia told Pop that he had the feeling that Luciano de Castro had been dismissed. “It must have been an interpretation by the legal department at the time, but I'm finding out about this from you (Pulcineli). He's out of everything, and I had the feeling that he had been dismissed. What I can say is that there was no political decision about it.”

According to O Popular, the city's Attorney General, Carlos de Freitas, stated that the mayor preferred to keep Luciano in his position, receiving a salary without working, despite the municipality's serious financial crisis, because by dismissing him, Paulo Garcia would be admitting irregularities and even making Luciano's defense more difficult. "It would be an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, and there is a presumption of innocence. We are simply complying with the decision."

Luciano de Castro was removed from his position following a lawsuit filed by prosecutor Fernando Krebs. According to Krebs, the then-president of Comurg led a group that defrauded public tenders held by the company between 2009 and 2011. The investigation revealed that this practice involved pre-arranging prices and services, using falsified documents, and outsourcing public tenders to shell companies.