The National Congress has sent 26.5 million reais in amendments to the city of Turilândia, in Maranhão, since 2023. Earlier this week, the Court ordered arrest of the mayor, vice-mayor, first lady and all councilors of the municipality of Maranhão. The accusation is that the group embezzled 56.3 million reais through shell companies.
The mayor of Turilândia, Paulo Curió (União), is still on the run. This Monday (22), the Maranhão Public Ministry (MPMA) launched Operation Tântalo II and arrested the vice mayor, Tânya Mendes (PRD), and five municipal councilors.
“In the House, all the councilors were part of the scheme, receiving embezzled money directly or through their relatives,” said the prosecutor of the Gaeco (Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime) of the MPMA, Fernando Berniz.
According to investigators, the gang used shell companies to embezzle money, primarily from the health and welfare sectors.
In addition to the BRL 26.5 million sent as part of the parliamentary amendments, Turilândia also received an additional BRL 13.9 million from the federal executive. Most of these resources came from transfers from the Ministry of Health and the National Education Development Fund (FNDE).
In total, Turilândia has received approximately 40.5 million reais in federal public resources since 2023.
Among the parliamentary amendments, the one who sent the most resources to Turilândia was the deputy Pedro Lucas Fernandes (União-MA), with 9.9 million reais. Last year, Fernandes allocated a “pix amendment” of 2 million reais to Turilândia City Hall. He is an ally of Mayor Paulo Curió. Fernandes also sent 5.3 million reais to pay for local health care.
The Chronicle reached out to Fernandes for comment, but there has been no response yet. The space remains open.
In addition to Pedro Lucas Fernandes, resources were also allocated to Turilândia by the Maranhão bench (R$5.3 million), the House Health Commission (R$5.1 million) and Senator Ana Paula Lobato (PDT-MA), with R$1.4 million, among others. She took office after Flávio Dino was appointed Minister of the Federal Court.
Turilândia: 13th poorest city in the country
Turilândia is one of the poorest cities in the country, with a GDP per capita of only R$8,800 in 2023, according to the IBGE. The indicator makes Turilândia the 13th poorest municipality in the country.
Still according to the IBGE, only 0.48% of households in Turilândia had basic sanitation in 2022. Only 2.8% of the city’s public roads were urbanized in 2010.
On the other hand, the city had only 915 formal jobs in 2023, and 54% of residents were part of families with per capita income less than half the minimum wage in 2010. The infant mortality rate, in 2023, was 19.8 per thousand live births, almost double the Brazilian average of 12.5.
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