This Thursday morning (14), the Federal Police (PF) and the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) carried out an operation against possible fraud in the activities of law firms that provided services to municipalities in Piauí, Ceará and Maranhão, compensating amounts owed to the National Social Security Institute (INSS) with the Federal Revenue.
Seven search and seizure warrants were executed in municipalities in Piauí and Ceará, including 12 luxury vehicles and the prohibition of action in administrative social security compensation procedures with the IRS by one of the lawyers investigated.
The court that authorized the searches also ordered the blocking of R$126 million in the accounts of those being investigated.
According to a CGU report, the widespread activity of law firms targeted by the operation had been identified in 2019, when it was pointed out that they had been hired by 72 municipalities in Piauí to carry out social security compensations with the Federal Revenue Service.
The CGU points out that these contracts were, as a rule, carried out irregularly due to exemption or non-requirement of bidding and the payments with federal public resources to the offices were improper, as they did not comply with the provisions of the related public policies.
When investigating a specific case, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), which is also involved in the operation, materialized the irregularities highlighted by the CGU and verified that the offices have also been operating in municipalities in Ceará and Maranhão, in addition to identifying evidence of the occurrence of money laundering crimes and the role of public agents in these processes.
In investigations with the Federal Revenue, the MPF found that the irregular social security compensation processes initiated by the investigated offices resulted in losses to the federal treasury in the order of R$ 112 million, which is the total blocked this Thursday.
The investigation details that the investigated offices received, from the municipalities of Piauí alone, payments in the amount of R$23.8 million, of which approximately R$2.8 million were with federal resources from Education and Health.
The CGU points out that due to the failure of the compensation processes, these amounts did not result in any benefit to the municipalities, representing a loss to the public coffers.
Source: CNN Brasil
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