Court Freezes São Paulo Governor’s Assets in Lawsuit Alleging City Hall Impropriety

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – On Monday, October 19th, a São Paulo lower court froze R$29.4 million in São Paulo Governor João Doria’s assets, under a lawsuit in which the politician is a defendant for suspicion of administrative impropriety when he was Mayor of the city of São Paulo. The decision was handed down by the 14th Public Treasury Court of the State of São Paulo.

Doria was charged with impropriety in 2018 by the Prosecutor’s Office (MP) due to alleged irregular election propaganda through the City Hall’s “Asfalto Novo” program. According to the prosecutors, the irregularities resulted in a loss of R$29 million to the public coffers.

Understanding the case against Doria:

According to the MP, Doria damaged the public coffers by authorizing expenses not provided for by law and by violating the principle of impartiality, which stipulates that administration must not be confused with the administrators’ personal figure.

In a note, Doria’s defense attorneys state that they do not agree with the unavailability of assets and that they will appeal the decision.

Lodged by prosecutor Nelson Sampaio de Andrade, of the Public Property Prosecutor’s Office, the lawsuit argues that Doria used public funds in advertising actions related to the roads resurfacing program with the sole purpose of promoting himself.

Upon receiving the indictment from the MP, Judge Randolfo Ferraz de Campos said that, “as the official publicity of the government program was being conducted, so was the personal promotion of the accused João Dória by private means, notably in Internet media (social media), so as to be done indirectly, obscurely, in the form of complementing each other.”

However, the magistrate understood that the communication company hired by the government to advertise the program was not liable for its association with Doria’s image and thus rejected the indictment for misconduct lodged against it.

In August 2020, Doria had already been sentenced to pay R$600,000 in another impropriety lawsuit related to his term in the São Paulo City Hall. The MP charged him with using the slogan ‘Acelera, São Paulo’ (Speed up, São Paulo) for personal promotion.

‘Asfalto Novo’ Program

The ‘Asfalto Novo’ program was launched in November 2017 and was designed to invest approximately R$350 million in resurfacing priority roads in all the Regional Municipalities.

Of this total, R$210 million would be provided by the Fines Fund, R$100 million by the Municipal Treasury and R$40 million invested by SPTrans, in the latter case focusing on bus lanes.

Doria’s attorneys released note:

“The public civil action cited had been dormant since July 2019 and it was curiously revisited in the run-up to the municipal elections, when the MP’s preliminary injunction was considered. João Doria’s defense does not agree with the reasons and grounds raised by the magistrate to decree the unavailability of his assets, particularly since Doria would never expend his assets to evade his responsibilities. This week the defense will appeal to the São Paulo State Court of Justice to overturn the injunction”.

Source: G1