Secretary of government of Cláudio Castro (PL) in Rio, former deputy André Moura (União) is running as a candidate for the Senate for Sergipe, in 2026, after an agreement in which he managed to extinguish an eight-year prison sentence. Moura, who is one of the main allies of the dismissed President of the Legislative Assembly (Alerj), Rodrigo Bacellar, was excluded from the last elections due to a conviction by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) for using the resources of the town of Pirambu (SE) to cover personal expenses. The list of expenses included the purchase of alcoholic beverages and the use of telephone lines.
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The conviction, in 2021, left Moura ineligible for a period of eight years after serving his sentence. In 2023, however, Moura signed a non-criminal prosecution agreement, in which he agreed to return approximately R$300,000 to Pirambu City Hall to “repair the damage caused by the crimes he perpetrated.”
The STF declared the abolition of Moura’s sentence in May this year, and since then has declared that “there are no legal obstacles” to his candidacy for the Senate next year. In interviews, Moura also said that the files “were archived”, without mentioning the payment of the fine and the confession of the crimes. Contacted for the report, Castro’s secretary did not respond.
Moura’s case was judged by the STF because he had privileged jurisdiction, as a federal deputy, at the start of the process. An investigation by the Sergipe Public Prosecutor’s Office revealed that the Pirambu municipality covered Moura’s personal expenses between 2005 and 2007, after his term as mayor ended.
According to the MP, the establishments contracted to supply food to the town hall issued invoices “composed” with items from the basic food basket, but in reality they delivered other goods to addresses in Moura. The maneuver was confirmed, according to the investigation, by proof of the removal of these objects, signed by Moura’s advisors, and which recorded the real assets.
One of these receipts, for example, mentioned “5 cases of beer” and the phrase “casa AM parade”, Moura’s initials. The withdrawal of the goods, on September 7, 2006, was signed by Lara Ferreira, wife of the then deputy. There are other records of purchases of beer and alcoholic beverages, during the same period, for “rides promoted with the clear aim of politically promoting André Moura, his family and his allies”.
Another piece of evidence linking Moura to the disbursements of the city of Pirambu is the recording of a telephone call in which the then deputy spoke with a member of the Court of Auditors of the State (TCE-SE), in March 2007. The call was obtained thanks to a breach of confidentiality found in the Operação Navalha, which was investigating the misappropriation of resources in the tenders of the government of Sergipe, and which affected members of the court.
In the call, according to the investigation, Moura thanked councilor Flávio Conceição, of the TCE, for the “‘victory’ obtained in the trial of a case before the Regional Electoral Court of Sergipe.” The call was made from a mobile phone line which, according to reports, was paid for by Pirambu town hall, even though Moura was already an MP.
Moura’s defense argued, at the same time, that the witnesses who had highlighted the “make-up” on the market invoices had returned in new statements, and that the then deputy had “ported” the cell phone number he used as mayor of Pirambu. The majority of STF ministers, however, understood that the accusations against Moura were “supported by solid evidence” even with the withdrawal of witnesses, and that the former MP could only prove that the cell phone was transferred to his name after the recorded call.
The vote that resulted in the conviction of André Moura was that of Minister Nunes Marques, followed by the majority and won by the rapporteur Gilmar Mendes, who voted for acquittal.
Because he was not eligible, Moura withdrew from his candidacy in 2022 and chose, after that election, to return to Rio’s representation secretariat in Brasilia, appointed by Governor Cláudio Castro. He had held the same position for the first time in the government of Wilson Witzel.
Last year, Castro reassigned Moura to the Government Secretariat, a coordination position between the Guanabara Palace and Rio de Janeiro’s city halls. Despite this new mission, Moura maintained his routine of traveling on weekends to Sergipe, where he mobilized the support of mayors and parliamentarians to run for the Senate.
Last week, he posed for a photo with Senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE) and Sergipe Governor Fabio Mitidieri (PSD), both candidates for re-election, during a meeting that marked the assembly of the government list for 2026.
The alliance, created by Mitidieri, still generates discomfort for the two candidates for the Senate. Vieira was elected in 2018, when Moura also ran for senator and ended up being eliminated in third place. This week, Vieira, who serves as the ICC’s rapporteur on organized crime in the Senate, summoned ousted Alerj president Rodrigo Bacellar to testify before the commission. In the motion, Vieira said Bacellar’s presence is necessary to investigate the “threat posed by the economic infiltration of organized crime.” Bacellar, arrested, is under investigation for fleeing a PF operation against deputy TH Joias (MDB), accused of links with the Comando Vermelho.
Vieira believes that Bacellar’s summons does not interfere with Moura’s alliance in Sergipe — the former deputy is named as one of the organizers of the vote organized Monday by Alerj, which revoked Bacellar’s arrest. Vieira says “that the CPI has the mission of presenting a complete x-ray of the activities of organized crime in Brazil, in particular of its infiltration of powers. In this sense, it is impossible to do serious work without looking closely at Rio de Janeiro. Regarding the assembly of the state list, he concludes that this “corresponds to the understanding of the governor and his group that these are the two names that can best represent Sergipe, even with absolutely different profiles.”
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