Mayor Felipe dos Pneus charged with R$55 million public fund diversion

The mayor of Santa Inês, Felipe dos Pneus (PP), has been made a defendant in a public‑fund diversion case. Prosecutors allege that a criminal group under his leadership fraudulently awarded contracts for medicines and hospital supplies, diverting roughly R$55 million that should have funded basic public services. The scheme involved inflated contracts, kickbacks to the mayor and collusion with municipal officials, leading to shortages of essential medical items.

In Belém, the municipal government was fined a total of R$500 000 by a federal court for forcibly removing people experiencing homelessness from a public square in violation of a judicial order. The court also ordered increased federal and state funding for social assistance in the capital.

Other Brazilian municipalities faced fiscal and legal scrutiny. The mayor of Mata Roma, Besaliel Freitas Albuquerque, was fined R$5 000 after a state audit court found repeated delays in paying municipal employees and overspending on personnel, exceeding the legal limit of 54 % of revenue. Similarly, the city of Imperatriz was ordered by a court to present a plan to reduce payroll expenses that had risen to about 66 % of its revenue.

The municipal council of São Felipe is under investigation for alleged irregularities in outsourcing contracts that could have caused up to R$1.6 million in losses to the public treasury. In Dom Pedrito (RS), a former municipal employee was convicted of creating false Bolsa Família registrations, resulting in an unlawful payment of more than R$20 000, which she must repay.

A separate criminal case in Francisco Beltrão (PR) concluded with one defendant, Pedro Natan Fernandes Caetano, acquitted and another, Leandro Fonseca Nhaia, sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison for a homicide linked to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC).