September 30, 2021

09:09

Victória Salles – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Federal Police agents (PF) and members of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), in Amazonas, informed, with exclusivity, the magazine CENARIUM that the sister of the mayor of Manaus, David Almeida (Avante), who is also president of Manaus Solidarity Fund, Dulce Almeida, is investigated as directly responsible for changes in the list sent to the Caixa Econômica of “eligible families” to receive apartments in the Manauara Residencial 2, second stage, opened on 18 August.

Aimed at low-income people and residents of risk areas, the affordable housing program of the Manaus City Hall, in partnership with the federal government, contemplated relatives of the mayor’s daughter, Fernanda Aryel, David Almeida’s chief of staff, relatives of the mayor’s advisors and even businessmen. After the negative repercussion of the case nationally, David Almeida informed that he fired the illegally benefited employees.

Dulce Almeida – who remains in office – is cited in previous statements as being the person who led the changes in the list of families eligible to receive apartments from Caixa, which was drawn up in 2020, when the current mayor of Manaus was not yet in office.

Manaus Solidarity is linked to the Municipal Department of Social Assistance (Semasc), the city government body responsible for the selection of candidates eligible to receive the apartments. According to the rule of the program, which relied on federal funds, the selection of families should happen through face-to-face evaluation.

The Federal Police and the MPF investigate, also, the participation of high-ranking employees of the Regional Superintendence of the Caixa Econômica, in Amazonas, in the suspected directing of the drawing of the apartments. Those responsible for the case in the two federal institutions preferred not to identify themselves and not to give further details in order not to disturb the progress of the investigations, which are under secrecy.

Dulce Almeida was the main coordinator of the election campaign of David Almeida, last year, and dealt directly with community leaders who, in some cases, are, today, commissioned employees of the Manaus City Hall, with salaries above R$ 2 thousand, maximum income provided for in the social program of Residencial Manauara.

Sought to talk about the matter, the mayor of Manaus and his sister did not speak, according to the Municipal Department of Communication (Semcom).

Traffics on the list

There are, also, among those contemplated with popular apartments of the Manaus City Hall, people involved with the crime of drug trafficking, practiced in years after the election of 2020, pointed out the Federal Police agents to CENARIUM.

The case of illegalities in Residencial Manauara 2 ended up in the MPF after a formal complaint to the institution. With documents in hand, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the Federal Police to investigate the data and expertise in documents and systems. There is still no deadline for the completion of investigations.

In August, David Almeida claimed that “problems happen”, when asked, on Radio BandNews Difusora, about an aide of his – chief of staff – having been one of the servers of the Municipal Executive contemplated in the Caixa Econômica (Savings Bank) lottery to receive apartments.

“With regard to the city hall employees, all of them were removed. This may have happened, however, we took all the necessary measures so that there would be no losses and all those who are connected to the city hall and who do not fit the income bracket, we are asking the Caixa to review these contracts and that it can do exactly the exclusion of these names, as we have already done, exonerating these servants. Problems happen, but they need to be corrected immediately”, Almeida justified.

Family Recurrence

This is not the first time that David Almeida has family members involved in suspected illegalities in his management at the head of the Executive Branch. When he was interim governor in 2017, the current mayor became news after leaking an audio of his brother, Daniel Almeida, intimidating a candidate for the supplier of the Amazonas Health Department, before, Susam, today, SES.

In the audio, Daniel Almeida pressured the director of the Institute Gente Amazônica (Igam), identified as Maria, who denounced the overbilling of 780 surgeries at Delphina Aziz Hospital.

The recording was released a day after Congressman Dermilson Chagas denounced that the, then, State Secretary of Health, Vander Alves, paid the Institute of Medicine, Studies and Development (Imed), which manages the Hospital Delphina Aziz, about R$ 8.4 million for 780 surgeries, which is around R$ 10 thousand per procedure.

Daniel, in the audio, questions the fact that Maria exposed the case in the newspapers. “Vander (Alves, Secretary of State of Health) wants to play with serious things. I tried to talk. This is not done. We have the population dying and the guy is overcharging R$ 10 thousand per surgery. Do you think this is right?”, said the businesswoman.

David’s brother rebutted, saying that by publicizing the case, Maria exposed her brother – then governor. “You put me in a difficult situation, Maria. I took you there”, said David Almeida’s brother. The case was taken to the State Public Ministry (MP-AM), which filed the denunciation against the mayor of Manaus and his brother.