Vilagra files for injunction against removal from office.

Lawyer Hélio Silveira filed a writ of mandamus with a request for preliminary injunction this Thursday in the Public Treasury Court of Campinas against the opening of a Disciplinary Committee (CP) and the request for the removal of the mayor who took office on Tuesday, Demétrio Vilagra (PT). The opening of the CP and the request for removal were approved last night, the 24th, in an ordinary session of the City Council, by 29 votes in favor and four against.

According to Silveira, the impeachment commission is illegal and the request for removal is unconstitutional. Based on Decree-Law 201, the political-administrative process provides for the investigation of crimes of responsibility committed by the mayor. "The impeachment commission has no reason to exist. All the complaints refer to episodes prior to Demétrio Vilagra taking office as mayor," stated the lawyer for the removed mayor.

The City Council approved an investigation into alleged involvement in a corruption scheme at the Water and Sanitation Supply Company (Sanasa); alleged irregularities in bidding processes at the Campinas Supply Center (Ceasa), which he headed; and alleged favoritism towards political cronies in the same public body. Vilagra was formally accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office in court of the alleged crimes of forming a criminal organization, embezzling public funds, and bid rigging, and had two arrest warrants issued against him, one of which resulted in his detention. The arrests were later revoked.

Interim

To request the removal of the newly appointed mayor, the author of the requests, Valdir Terrazan (PSDB), argued that he used the principle of symmetry and that, according to the Constitution, the President of the Republic can be removed in the event of an investigation by a Disciplinary Committee. "The removal, respecting all differing opinions of jurists, is not provided for in Decree-Law 201 nor in the Municipal Organic Law. And in the municipal organic laws that provided for this type of removal, the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo, the highest court in our State, considered this provision unconstitutional," stated Vilagra's lawyer. "It is not I who speaks to you, it is the leadership of the São Paulo judiciary."

As of Thursday afternoon, the mayor had not yet received notification from the City Council. The interim mayor, Pedro Serafim Junior, from the same PDT party as former mayor Hélio de Oliveira Santos, who was impeached by the City Council in the early hours of Saturday, will assume the position for up to 90 days while the commission of inquiry is underway.

Learn more The second largest city in São Paulo state is marked by corruption.