Itiquira former controller convicted of illegal land transfer to mother

Jefferson Almeida Freire, the former internal controller of the municipality of Itiquira in Mato Grosso, has been convicted of administrative improbity. The court found that Freire used his position during a land regularization process in the Poxoréu neighborhood to grant possession of a 3,165.80 m² plot of land to his mother, Maria Bárbara de Almeida Freire.

The land had been occupied by another family for decades. Although the title was granted under the condition of residential use, the court noted that Freire’s mother did not reside on the property. Instead, she admitted the land was intended to be sold. Following the conversion of the title to full ownership in 2018, the property was sold to the actual occupant for R$ 15,000, a price below market value.

Judge Romeu da Cunha Gomes recognized the act as illicit enrichment. Freire was sentenced to the loss of his public office, an eight-year suspension of political rights, a civil fine of R$ 15,000, and a prohibition from contracting with the public administration or receiving tax incentives for the same period.