AM mayor will have to return more than R$ 1 million in federal funds for school lunch

Ana Carolina Barbosa – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The mayor of Tabatinga (AM), Saul Nunes Bemerguy (MDB), was sentenced to return more than R$ 1.06 million to the coffers of the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE), for irregularities in the application of funds passed on 12 years ago for the purchase of school lunches. The decision of the Federal Audit Court (TCU) was published on Wednesday, 16, derived from a special audit.

The municipality is located 1,106 kilometers from Manaus, in the triple border between Brazil, Colombia and Peru. The amount was updated based on the Broad Consumer Price Index (IPCA), of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which measures inflation in the country. The monetary restatement with the application of interest is part of the TCU’s determination.

In the judgment (decision) No. 473/2021, the TCU explains that the decision was taken after the Court of Accounts rejected the arguments of the defense of the politician. Also according to the Court, were transferred between July and December 2010, to the Tabatinga City Hall, R$ 553,932, through the National School Meals Program (PNAE).

The conviction was based on article 16 – III, b -, which considers public accounts irregular when proven the “practice of illegal, illegitimate, uneconomical management act, or violation of legal or regulatory norm of accounting, financial, budgetary, operational or patrimonial nature” and “damage to the treasury resulting from illegitimate or uneconomical management act”.

Saul was also fined R$ 98 thousand and has 15 days, as of the notification, to prove the deposit of the amount in the FNDE accounts. The amount can be paid in up to 36 installments.

The ruling, issued on February 8, by the 1st Chamber of the TCU, was forwarded to the Amazonas State Attorney’s Office. According to the TCU, the “failure to prove payment of any installment will result in early maturity of the outstanding balance, under paragraph 2 of art. 217 of the Internal Rules of this Court”.

Saul Nunes was mayor of the city in 2010 and, in 2021, returned to power after being elected in the 2020 election. In July last year, the mayor was removed from office after a Federal Police investigation into bid rigging, embezzlement, embezzlement, active and passive corruption, and money laundering. Months later, he was returned to his position by decision of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region, in Brasilia.