In 2011, during his first term as federal deputy, , then 22 years old, allocated an amendment of R$2 million to the 2012 Union Budget for the construction of the Municipal Theater of Patos, in the backlands of Paraíba.
The mayor of the city, Hugo’s electoral stronghold, was his father, Nabor Wanderley, who was succeeded by his maternal grandmother, Francisca Motta. At the time, the three belonged to the PMDB — today they belong to . The R$2 million represented 67% of the total project budget (R$3 million).
Fourteen years later, Hugo Motta has accumulated experience and power. At 35 years old, he is the youngest president in the history of . Patos is once again governed by her father (for the fourth time), and her grandmother is a state deputy.
The Municipal Theater is not ready. Construction was stopped and abandoned several times — due to lack of payment from the city hall to the companies, interrupted mandates, irregularities in the works, among other problems.
The work began between 2013 and 2014, under Francisca’s management. Hugo’s grandmother did not finish her term: she was removed by the courts in 2016, just a few months away from completing it, after an operation in which the Federal Public Ministry and the Comptroller General of the Union investigated corruption schemes in cities in the region.
Ilanna Mota, Hugo’s mother and Francisca’s daughter, who was the city hall’s chief of staff, was arrested at the time, and released after five days. The accusations by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) against the two for this case would end up being considered unfounded or extinguished by the courts.
The MPF opened an investigation to determine the causes of the work stoppage – and then archived it. The Paraíba Court of Auditors found irregularities in the works and referred the case to the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU).
In the second week of January, when the report was in Patos, there was no sign of works. The theater was surrounded by siding. On one side, a neighbor put corn bran to feed pigeons and chicken heads for street dogs.
In addition to being exploited by the few members of the opposition in the city as an example of mismanagement and disregard for public money, the soap opera generates ridicule and revolt.
“There was a time when the Municipal Theater only had two employees, a bricklayer and a servant, and they were both intrigued [brigados entre si]. Then you can see how this equipment was built. We, cultural activists, and the population in general have already lost hope that one day this theater will be ready”, says researcher Damião Lucena, author of books on the history of Patos and who maintains a cultural center in his home with the memory of the city.
Following a common script in Patos, the Government of Paraíba took over the bill to try to save the project, signing new agreements with the city hall, totaling R$12 million. Governor João Azevedo (PSB), an ally of the mayor, held ceremonies in 2021 and 2022 to announce the resumption. Completion is now promised for this year.
The case of the Municipal Theater is one among many in which federal funds obtained by Hugo Motta for Patos directly or indirectly (with political articulation in ministries and other bodies) are allocated to works that have been in trouble for years without getting off the ground.
Two major sports projects fall into this category. Between 2013 and 2014, the City of Patos signed agreements with the Ministry of Sports for the construction of the Olympic Village and the CIE (Sports Initiation Center) — the first worth R$ 2.9 million and the second budgeted at R$ $3.5 million, of which R$866 thousand was released.
The plan was for both to be opened by the Rio Olympics in 2016. Twelve years later, neither is ready — far from it.
Hugo Motta worked with different Sports ministers to release the funds. In 2018, an amendment from the deputy guaranteed an additional R$1 million for the projects — two years earlier, a new amendment from him guaranteed R$1.2 million for the same purpose (“infrastructure for educational, recreational and leisure sports”), but in the State of Paraíba as a whole.
The funds came out, but were not used well. The Olympic Village was only started in 2015 (managed by Francisca Motta), but abandoned after structural problems. The CIE had barely started, and the city hall had to return part of the resources to the Union, due to non-compliance with targets.
“When the company started performing completion services [da Vila Olímpica]some flaws were noticed (…) in the structural part”, reported the Secretary of Administration of Patos, Francivaldo Dias, in 2023.
“Unfortunately, it was abandoned for a long period of time, without continuing the services, which are only being resumed now”, said the secretary then. Once again, the Government of Paraíba came to the rescue, with new agreements worth R$3.8 million.
Both pieces of equipment remain unfinished and were not under construction when the report went to the locations — the Village has concrete casings and a zinc roof over what should be a block; the CIE features an unfinished iron structure.
Examples follow one another. In 2017, Hugo Motta guaranteed an amendment of R$1 million for the construction of the Patos Zoonosis Control Center. “‘It’s an old demand from the population of Patoense, who want care and protection for animals,” said the deputy at the time.
The work hasn’t even started. After action by the State Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Court demands that the center be built, while the City of Patos now says that it is not necessary: it claimed in the process that there is “low demand” for the construction, “which would not justify the expenditure of resources public”.
There are also, of course, works completed with federal funds. One of the most expensive was the drainage and revitalization of the Canal do Frango, which cuts through peripheral neighborhoods of Patos, at a cost of R$27 million in the first stage alone, but whose result is controversial. According to residents, the situation in the surrounding area has improved a little, but the region continues to suffer from flooding when it rains.
In September, with authorization from the Court, the PF carried out search and seizure warrants in Patos along the Motta road (avenues known as ). At the time, the deputy said that he was neither investigated nor suspected in the case.
When contacted by the report, Nabor Wanderley, Hugo Motta and Francisca Motta did not want to give an interview. Written questions were also sent to the first two, without answers.
Although he is in his second term followed by his second period as mayor (the first was from 2005 to 2012), Nabor said, in an interview in 2024, that he cannot be responsible for works initiated in other administrations — even if part of them began in the previous administration. Francisca, his ex-mother-in-law and first-time ally, who launched him into politics.
He also recalled that the city experienced political instability with the removal of another mayor, his cousin and opponent Dinaldo Wanderley Filho. Elected in 2016, he succeeded Francisca, but was removed by the courts in 2018 after being accused of corruption.
Terreiro do Forró
While unfinished and troubled works abound, federal funds continue to arrive in millions in Patos. Last year, Hugo Motta managed to approve an amendment worth R$ 17.3 million in the Chamber’s Tourism Committee for the new Terreiro do Forró – the epicenter of São João de Patos, one of the largest in Paraíba –, whose biggest attraction will be the ” quadrahódromo do sol”, advertised as “the largest open-air amphitheater in the Northeast”.
“We already have the resources committed, thanks to the work of Congressman Hugo Motta, so that we can carry out this work”, said the father-mayor, repeating the formula of always associating the federal funds that arrive in Patos with his son.
Since 2020, Congress has had greater control over parliamentary amendments, which has led to a . Since then, the amendments – more than four times the amount disbursed in parliamentary nominations in the previous cycle, from 2015 to 2019, of R$32.8 billion.
Hugo Motta, as a leader from the center with growing power in the Chamber, is an important part of this mechanism.
last September showed that, between 2020 and 2022 alone, he indicated to Patos at least R$45 million in appeals for the rapporteur’s amendments – modality due to lack of transparency – and around R$5 million in “Pix amendments” since 2021, funds that fall directly into the municipal coffers, even without a defined purpose.
In total, since 2020, Patos has had R$116 million in committed amendments (not just from Hugo Motta) and signed federal agreements worth R$61 million.
Mateus Vargas, from Brasília, collaborated
