Haddad responds to lawsuit over expensive bike lane at SP – RecordTV

PT candidate for the government of Sao Paulo, Fernando Haddad, is a defendant in a public civil lawsuit for administrative irregularities suspected of involvement in irregularities in the implementation of the Ceagesp – Ibirapuera bike path.

The length of the work, which was carried out when he was mayor, is 12.4 kilometers and was contracted without tender. According to the public ministry, the bike path would have been overkill: each kilometer cost more than R$4 million, or nearly six times what was paid to the same construction company in previous governments.

The bike path begins in the Alto de Pinheiros neighborhood and ends in Moema, and passes through high-income neighborhoods in the capital of São Paulo, including Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima, the financial center of São Paulo.

The prosecutor’s investigation began in 2016, the last year that Haddad took over as mayor of São Paulo.

Four years later, the process is still underway at the Eleventh Court of the Public Treasury in São Paulo. In the last step, on September 16, 2022, the Attorney General’s Office reported that the county had submitted false documents and had asked the justice to send the correct documents.

Haddad’s defense also demanded more time. The judge warned that the case is in danger of statute of limitations – this happens when it takes too long to end up without a trial.

In addition to Haddad, who devised the project, the defendants are Walter Antonio da Rocha, who was the Chief of Staff of the General Secretariat for Coordination of Subsidiary Bodies; Gilmar Augustinho Tato, Municipal Transportation Secretary; Ricardo Teixeira, Municipal Secretary for Coordination of Sub-Provinces; and construction company Jofege Pavimento e Construção.

The Public Prosecution discovered that to speed up the implementation of the bike path, those involved could have benefited from an existing contract to activate the construction company without bidding, which is illegal.

Prosecutors also found that the bike path was excessive. In the complaint filed with the court, they explained:

“The work is overpriced, with a value of R$4.418 million per kilometer, and in the previous administration, a work carried out by Jofege Pavitação e Construção Ltda., located on Avenida Faria Lima, through a bidding procedure, has a budget of R$617,000 per mile.”

The plaintiffs demanded full compensation for the damages caused to the public treasury. The value of the lawsuit: 54,782,813.02 Brazilian Real. They also demand the conviction of those accused of committing an administratively inappropriate act.

the other side

The press office of Fernando Haddad sent the following note: “The inappropriateness lawsuit was filed after then-Mayor Fernando Haddad drew the attention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to information about suspected corruption in which the Public Prosecutor could be involved, according to the information in the third report. Thus, It is the retaliation of the then mayor, which is duly defended on the records. It is worth noting that through the intervention of the mayor, bike path costs were reduced by 50%.”

We sought to defend Construtura Joviji and Gilmar Tato, but received no response. We did not specify the position of the defense of Walter Antonio da Rocha or Ricardo Teixeira.