Alckmin and Serra's mistake could cost R$ 300 million.
The Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating whether the two politicians from the PSDB party spent more than they should have on compensation payments related to Villa-Lobos Park.
Fernando Porfírio_247 – The Public Prosecutor's Office of São Paulo has opened an investigation into alleged illegal interest payments related to the court-ordered debt (precatório) for Villa Lobos Park. The overpayment error to the former owners of the area may have cost public coffers R$ 300 million.
The alleged irregularity was denounced by journalist and former congressman Afanasio Jazadji. According to him, the former owners of the area, businessmen and cousins Antonio João Abdalla Filho and José João Abdalla Filho, allegedly received excess interest. The complaint states that the problem lies in payments made between the fourth and ninth years, which coincide with the administrations of José Serra and Geraldo Alckmin, both from the PSDB party. Since the installments were paid on time, the late payment interest was not due.
Villa Lobos Park covers 600 square meters and cost the public coffers R$ 2,5 billion. The site, adjacent to the Pinheiros Marginal Highway, was expropriated in 1988 by then-governor Orestes Quércia. The former owners received the sum in ten annual installments of R$ 250 million.
A class-action lawsuit is underway in the 6th Public Treasury Court of São Paulo. The case has also reached the Legislative Assembly. Parliamentarians have requested information from the Treasury Department. They want to know why the court-ordered payment for the Villa Lobos Park, of stratospheric value, received preferential treatment while tens of thousands of other court-ordered payments of an alimentary nature remain unpaid.