The Court of Auditors (TCM) forwards new reports on Emergency Decrees to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

On the morning of this Monday (13), six more audit reports from the Court of Auditors of Municipalities (TCM) were delivered to the Public Ministry of the State of Ceará (MPCE) in cities that published emergency or public calamity decrees in 2017. This time, the documents detail the situation of the municipalities of Crato, Jardim, Novo Oriente, Barbalha, Guaiúba and Pereiro.

According to the coordinator of the Public Administration Crimes Prosecutor's Office (PROCAP), Public Prosecutor Vanja Fontenele, "some municipalities do not, in fact, have the necessary conditions to declare a state of emergency. If this is confirmed in the TCM reports, the Public Prosecutor's Office will take action regarding administrative misconduct, and if it is proven that there is any criminal conduct, PROCAP will take the lead in this procedure, holding the mayor criminally responsible," explains the prosecutor.

The coordinator also highlighted, during the press conference at the TCM headquarters, that it is not possible to detail the content of the investigations, given that they are ongoing, but reinforced the importance of the presence of the Public Prosecutors from each district during the TCM technicians' visit. "The reports are being analyzed by each prosecutor, so I cannot reveal the content of the investigations. But I consider the MPCE's monitoring during the inspection important, as some procedures can be carried out immediately, in real time, gathering evidence through witnesses and municipal documents and expediting certain measures," commented Vanja Fontenele.

The president of the Court of Auditors, Councilor Domingos Filho, emphasized that all municipalities that published emergency decrees and waived bidding processes will be visited. "There is a similarity between the flaws that have been found in the groups of municipalities. We will visit all the cities that waived bidding processes due to an emergency decree, and the same evaluation procedures will be adopted in all of them," he highlighted.

The advisor further emphasized that the TCM (Court of Accounts of the Municipalities) is observing whether these municipalities are dispensing with the bidding process in order to hold festivities during the Carnival period. "Is there an emergency decree and a waiver of bidding to hold Carnival? Are these two things compatible? The Court is analyzing each situation and forwarding it to the Public Prosecutor's Office, which, based on our opinion, will take the appropriate measures according to its responsibilities," said Domingos Filho.

In addition to technicians from the Court of Auditors, the following were present: Public Prosecutors José Haroldo dos Santos, from the District of Novo Oriente; Sérgio Henrique de Almeida, from Guaiúba; Deolinda Costa, advisor to PROCAP; and Erick Alves Pessoa, from Tauá.