Brazil’s Federal Police Launch Eighth Phase of Overclean, Targeting Alleged Earmark Graft

Overview

• Five search-and-seizure warrants and asset freezes were executed in Brasília, São Paulo, Palmas and Gurupi under orders from STF Justice Nunes Marques.
• Named targets include Podemos secretary-general Luiz Cláudio Freire de Souza França, ex-officials Claudinei Aparecido Quaresemin, Éder Martins Fernandes and Ítalo Moreira de Almeida, and businessman Alex Parente.
• Investigators focus on suspected inflated pest-control contracts in Tocantins’s education department, with contracts of up to R$16.9 million and about R$1 million in alleged kickbacks to state staff.
• The Tocantins education secretariat says payments tied to the probed contracts were already suspended by court order and that the related funds remain legally unavailable.
• Some individuals were detained in Palmas for forensic exams, including one arrest on suspicion of hindering the inquiry, and potential charges span criminal organization, corruption, embezzlement, bid rigging and money laundering.