The general superintendent of Economic and Social Development in the government (PSD), was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison in an initial closed regime for the crimes of embezzlement and money laundering, due to a case that has been ongoing for a decade.
The sentence against Keli Cristina de Souza Gali Guimarães was signed on October 9 by federal judge Guilherme Roman Borges, from the 13th Court of , after an investigation involving the Confiancce Institute, an Oscip (Civil Society Organization of Public Interest) that was the target of Operation Fidúcia, launched by in 2015.
Lawyer Antonio Figueiredo Basto, responsible for Keli’s defense, told Sheet this Friday (17) that there will be an appeal and that the first instance decision does not yet have immediate practical effect.
The Ratinho Junior government stated that “the facts highlighted in the sentence are old and have no relation to her current work”.
The management emphasizes that “in the decision, the judge himself stated that there is no room for losing his position because there is no such connection.” It states that, as it is a first instance decision, the Government of Paraná will await processing in higher courts.
Keli is married to counselor Fernando Guimarães, from the Paraná Court of Auditors, and gained superintendence in the state government in 2022. Previously, she worked in a commissioned position at the Legislative Assembly of Paraná.
The superintendency was created by Ratinho Junior and, according to the decree at the time, one of its duties was to coordinate with segments of organized civil society.
Keli’s lawyer says there is a possibility of a statute of limitations regarding the crime of embezzlement and that, in relation to the rest, an appeal will be made. “I don’t see substantial proof of her involvement in the events. I am convinced that this, when it is better analyzed in the courts, will be reviewed,” said Figueiredo Basto.
At the time of her appointment to the Executive, Keli had already been denounced by the Federal Government (in 2016) and also convicted (in 2018), in a sentence that was later annulled. At the end of 2019, the first sentence was annulled by decision of the TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region), which accepted a request from Keli’s defense.
She alleged that, during the Operation Fidúcia investigations, there was an illegal telephone interception of her husband’s cell phone, Fernando Guimarães, which could only eventually be the target of an investigation within the scope of the (Superior Court of Justice), and not the Federal Court of Paraná. With the annulment of the sentence, the process had to start again.
Author of the complaint, the Federal Public Ministry accused eight people, including Keli, of using the Confiancce Institute improperly with the purpose of “frauding bids, overpricing the amounts and appropriating the surplus collected”, between the years 2008 and 2014.
The Confiancce Institute signed dozens of partnership terms with municipalities in Paraná, mainly in the health area, and alleged irregularities began to be identified in 2011, in an audit by the CGU (General Comptroller of the Union).
The diversion, according to the MPF, occurred through the payment of private expenses, such as health insurance, telephone bills and international travel; simulation of expenses by hiring companies that did not provide services; in addition to hiring companies that provided overpriced services.
Keli worked at Instituto Confiancce between 2007 and 2013 together with her aunt, founder of Oscip and also convicted in the sentence.
In his ruling on October 9, the federal judge concluded that Keli received “remuneration absolutely incompatible with his performance.” She was also accused by the MPF of forming a gang, but the punishment has expired due to prescription.
In addition to this criminal case, Keli is also responding to a civil action for administrative improbity in the 1st Federal Court of Curitiba, for the same facts.
