Federal Police Raid Alleged School Procurement Fraud Ring in Three States

Operation Coffee Break executed 50 search-and-seizure warrants and six preventive arrests in São Paulo, the Federal District and Paraná under orders from the 1st Federal Court in Campinas, with asset blocks and secrecy breaks authorized. Those detained include Life Tecnologia owner André Gonçalves Mariano, Hortolândia vice mayor Cafu César, municipal education secretary Fernando Gomes Moraes and suspected money broker Abdalla Ahmed Fares, while ex‑secretary José Aparecido Marin remains at large. Police say Life moved more than R$125 million from 2021 to July 2024, won municipal contracts in Sumaré, Hortolândia, Limeira and Morungaba, and charged markups in some cases up to 35 times the purchase price of materials such as books. The inquiry portrays Fares as a clandestine banker who took transfers and returned cash for a 3% fee, with investigators citing R$10.3 million withdrawn in cash for Mariano in 2022–2023 and transfers from Life of R$24.9 million to Abifares and R$2.2 million to Fares Empreendimentos. Case files point to apartments, luxury cars and about R$115,000 in wine purchases as signs of illicit enrichment, and official schedules show Mariano met at the FNDE in December 2023 and May 2024, which the Education Ministry says produced no administrative follow‑up.