City Hall concluded an almost 90-day investigation into the alleged coercion of public servants during last year’s electoral campaign without hearing the main person involved in the case, the then superintendent Antonio Carlos Pires Rebello, who was dismissed shortly after the episode came to light, in .
The 12 civil servants who would have been victims of coercion were also not heard by the PGM (Municipal Attorney General’s Office), nor the then secretary of Administration, Personnel Management and Information Technology, Alexandre Jarschel de Oliveira, who was cited by Rebello in the audios.
In his speech to a group of civil servants, Rebello said that they needed to buy invitations to a dinner in support of the then candidate (PSD), vice-mayor at the time and now mayor.
He added that the order came from above, informed the different values of the invitations depending on the remuneration of each server and also advised how payment should be made.
This Wednesday (22), in a note to the report, the city hall said that the Internal Affairs Department found “strong indications” that Rebello “performed irregular conduct”.
But he added that “there is no evidence of disciplinary infractions” by the former secretary and also by the other two superintendents of the department, Luciana Varassin and Alessandra Calado de Melo Paluski.
“I was given a task, there’s no way I can’t do it. [inaudível] Alexandre received it from Eduardo’s campaign staff. There will be a dinner and everyone who can contribute to the dinner will need to do so. It’s not little, it’s not cheap. But it has already been determined what it will be like. There’s no way to negotiate this,” Rebello told the servers.
Rebello’s speeches in the audios also suggest that the practice was also being adopted in other sectors of the secretariat.
“Alexander [então secretário] received 150 invitations for him to solve. So he has a bigger problem to solve”, said Rebello, explaining that the invitations were also distributed to the other two superintendencies subordinate to the secretariat, and which were commanded by Luciana and Alessandra at the time.
In a note to the report, the city hall explained that, in the Internal Affairs investigation, only the two superintendents were heard.
“Both categorically stated that they were not harassed by the then secretary in the sense of being forced to participate in the sale of the invitations or even being forced to sell all the invitations. In this scenario, there was no need to listen to the former secretary Alexandre, since the possible infraction would be restricted to the conduct of Superintendent Rebello”, said the note.
Regarding the fact that Rebello was also not heard, the city hall justifies that, as he was no longer part of the staff, he was no longer subject to the disciplinary power of the Internal Affairs Department nor would he be obliged to respond to any subpoena.
She added that his conduct, of alleged electoral harassment, was already “abundantly proven” through the audios.
Regarding the absence of statements from the 12 allegedly coerced employees, the city hall says that “the audios revealed the entire content of the meeting, and there was no need, during the investigation, to listen to them to confirm what was said at the meeting.”
Of the 12 employees allegedly coerced, four were commissioned and eight were career employees, with paid duties.
Rebello was also a commissioner, as was Alexandre, who is also not part of the current city hall team. Luciana and Alessandra are civil servants and remain in municipal administration.
In December, in an interview with the Panel, lawyer Luis Gustavo Janiszewski, responsible for Rebello’s defense, said that his client did not use coercion, just “an informal invitation, without imposition”, and that within the scope of a procedure that is being processed in court Electoral.
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