Indicated by the mayor of Manaus to order expenses in works had OAB canceled for fraud

Cassandra Castro and Luís Henrique Oliveira – from Cenarium Magazine

BRASILIA and MANAUS – Responsible for managing the budget and expenses of the Municipal Department of Infrastructure (Seminf), in Manaus, estimated in more than R$ 180 million per year and R$ 15 million per month, Valcerlan Ferreira Cruz had his registration at the Bar Association of Brazil (OAB) canceled for fraud, according to a document that CENARIUM MAGAZINE had access this week.

The information appears in the publication of the OAB sectional in Amazonas, registered in the Official State Journal (DOE), on September 13, 2007, and signed by the then president of the Order, at the time, the lawyer Aristófanes Bezerra de Castro Filho, deceased in 2014. Sought by the report, Valcerlan declined to comment on the matter.

The document in which is the cancellation of the OAB of Seminf’s authorizing officer includes another 92 registrations authorized in December 2006. The cancellations are the result of an investigation by the Federal Police (PF), which discovered a criminal scheme of releasing registrations, from a denunciation to the Federal Council of the Order, in Brasilia. The complaint involved the Sectionals of the Federal District (DF) and Amazonas (AM).

In the Federal District, the president of the Commission of Examination and Bar Examination, Paulo Thompson, was removed, at the time, while the investigations were underway. The Federal Council created a commission, at the request of the OAB-DF, to investigate the accusations of fraud, with the support of the Federal Police.

The fraud and the crisis

The case had search and apprehension warrants served by the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region to search for documents that pointed to the fraudulent scheme in the Amazonas and Federal District Sections, in 2007.

In that year, the national president of the OAB, Cezar Britto, officially requested the Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, to order the Federal Police Department to investigate responsibilities for the facts found by the Amazonas State Chapter of the OAB, which identified 93 fraudulent registrations of law graduates who did not pass the Bar Exam.

The fraud was denounced by a proctor and reported to the Federal Police by the directorate of the OAB-DF and OAB-AM. He saw one of the candidates hand in a blank exam. On the day of the presentation of documents to formalize the professional registration, he found her name on the list of approved candidates.

The progress of the internal investigations about the frauds in the December 2006 Brazilian Bar Exam has unleashed a serious crisis in the Federal District and Amazonas Sections, resulting in the removal of Bar officials from both Sections.

Silence at the OAB/AM

Today, Valcerlan Ferreira has a new registration at the OAB, as found by the report in the National Registry of Lawyers (CNA). The sectional order, in Amazonas, was sought to inform the institutional situation of the authorizer of expenses of Seminf, but did not respond to emails or returned the calls.

Valcerlan is a childhood friend of the mayor of Manaus, David Almeida (Avante). The two lived together in the Morro da Liberdade neighborhood, in the south of Manaus. When he was president of the Legislative Assembly of Amazonas (Aleam), David appointed Valcerlan to be the head of the House Purchasing Department.

Despite having the vice-mayor of Manaus, Marcos Rotta, as the holder of the Municipal Department of Infrastructure, it is Valcerlan who is in charge of purchases and payments at Seminf. Rotta appointed Valcerlan to meet a political request from David Almeida.

Suspicious management

The authorizer of expenditure Seminf is accused by entrepreneurs – suppliers of Manaus City Hall – to intervene in bidding processes of the office, reversing decisions of the Municipal Bidding Commission (CML), as pointed out in article by CENARIUM MAGAZINE.

To have interference in the Municipal Bidding Commission, Valcerlan has the technical/political support of the Civil House of the Manaus City Hall, according to the businessmen. They informed that they intend to take the case for investigation in control organs. The councilman of Manaus, Rodrigo Guedes (PSC), made an alert to the existence of a “mafia” in Seminf.