Three councilors from cities in the metropolitan region of São Paulo and Baixada Santista were arrested this Tuesday morning (16) during an operation by the Public Ministry and the Military Police.
The objective of the action was to dismantle a criminal group that was linked to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and is being investigated for fraud in public tenders in several cities in the state.
The arrested councilors are: Flávio Batista de Souza (Podemos), Inha, from Ferraz de Vasconcelos; Luiz Carlos Alves Dias (MDB), Luizão Architect, from Santa Isabel; and Ricardo Queixão (Podemos), from Cubatão.
Who are the arrested parliamentarians?
Flávio Batista de Souza, known as Inha
Flávio Batista de Souza, 58 years old, is a real estate trader and is serving his second consecutive term as councilor in Ferraz de Vasconcelos, in Greater São Paulo.
Known by his nickname Inha, the politician was the most voted candidate for the city's Legislature in the last election, in 2020, having received 1,843 votes. He was elected by Podemos, but was previously affiliated with PTB, PSB and PL.
Inha was vice-mayor of Ferraz de Vasconcelos between 2009 and 2012. In addition, he was municipal secretary of Sports and Transport and Urban Mobility. He was president of the City Council twice, between 2003 and 2004 and between 2017 and 2018.
In the last election, Inha declared to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) that he had assets of R$300,000.

Luiz Carlos Alves Dias, Luizão Architect
Known as Luizão Arquiteto, Luiz Carlos Alves Dias is 49 years old and was born in the interior of Mato Grosso do Sul.
Currently at MDB, Luizão architect is in his third term as councilor in Santa Isabel, also in Greater São Paulo. In the 2020 election, he was elected by the PL with 539 votes. In 2016 and 2012, he was elected by PR – an acronym that, in 2019, changed its name to PL.
In 2020, he declared to the TSE that his assets totaled R$312.5 thousand.
Luizão Arquiteto was president of the City Council three times and currently presented himself on his social networks as a pre-candidate for mayor of Santa Isabel for the MDB.

Ricardo Queixão
Born in Guaçuí (ES), Ricardo de Oliveira, known as Ricardo Queixão, is 47 years old and is in his third term as councilor in Cubatão, in Baixada Santista.
Queixão joined the PSD in March this year. Previously, he was in the PSDB, the party for which he was elected in 2020, when he received 1031 votes. Previously, he was also affiliated with the PDT and the PMDB.
According to the Cubatão City Council website, Queixão is president of the Education, Culture and Social Assistance committee. Last year, he chaired the House's Public Works and Services committee.
In 2020, he declared to the TSE that he owned a house worth R$90,000.

What those involved say
A CNN tried to contact representatives of the three councilors, but has not yet received a response.
The PSD, Ricardo Queixão's party, stated in a statement that it is “following” the investigations and “does not condone” misconduct. “The party will, if necessary, adopt appropriate exemplary punishments, in accordance with the conclusions of these investigations and due legal process.”
The municipal executive of Podemos de Ferraz de Vasconcelos, councilor Inha's party, said that she supports “any and all investigations” to combat organized crime and “follows” the developments of today's operation so that, with the right to defense guaranteed, the take institutional measures.
The MDB, Luizão Arquiteto's party, highlighted that the councilor was elected by the PL and joined the MDB last week. “The party supports the progress of investigations, which is why it decided to suspend membership as a precautionary measure,” said the party.
The Cubatão City Council informed, in a note, that it was aware of the aforementioned operation and that it is collaborating with the investigation teams, providing all the documents requested by the authorities.
(With information from Pedro Venceslau)
Source: CNN Brasil

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