The Rio de Janeiro Court ordered, this Friday (1st), the immediate removal of the mayor of the city of Saquarema, Manoela Peres. The removal is for 90 days.
The city hall of the city located in the lakes region of Rio de Janeiro is being investigated for irregularities in the “Conexão do Futuro” program, aimed at tutoring and extracurricular activities for students in the municipal network.
According to an administrative misconduct lawsuit filed by the deputy mayor of Saquarema, Rômulo Carvalho de Almeida, against the mayor and 14 other defendants, the city has been suffering serious losses to its public treasury due to illegalities in the execution of contracts, which are often monitored by members of the corporate structure of the service providers themselves.
According to the action, “within the scope of the municipal administration, mechanisms were created to provide economic and financial support to an ‘organization’ structured around the “Peres Family”, with the participation of companies, city hall employees, family members and, it is reiterated, the mayor herself, in duly coordinated actions aimed at extracting public money”.
For Judge Marco Antonio Ibrahim, from the 7th Public Law Chamber of the Court of Justice of Rio, very serious facts that are harmful to the public treasury are demonstrated in the action, some of which are the subject of measures taken by the Court of Auditors of the State of Rio de Janeiro – TCE.
The judge also highlights “that the investigations indicate, in fact, an intricate family network of Mayor Manoela Alves as interested, directly or indirectly, in large contracts signed by the Public Administration” and that “a rigorous investigation of the facts is absolutely necessary, whether to impose sanctions on those involved, or to exonerate the names of politicians and businessmen who were singled out for serious allegations”.
In addition to the immediate removal of the mayor of Saquarema, the judge also ordered the unavailability of the assets of all defendants in the amount of R$40 million, the estimated amount of losses.
A CNN contacted the city hall and is awaiting a response.
Source: CNN Brasil
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