Negotiations began in August and have been conducted under secrecy; reports already total more than 30 annexes, each one detailing allegedly forged tax procedures, names of other tax auditors and business owners who benefited
The former fiscal auditor of the São Paulo State Treasury, Artur Gomes da Silva Neto, the main target of the Operation Icarus, is in the final stages of negotiating a plea bargain agreement with the . He is suspected of having received R$1 billion in bribes from large companies, including Ultrafarma and Fast Shop, in a corruption scheme at the São Paulo Finance Department. Artur’s reports already total more than 30 annexes, each one detailing allegedly forged tax procedures, names of other tax auditors and business owners who benefited. According to sources close to the investigations, the former server promises to deliver documentary and financial evidence to support his statements.
Negotiations began in August and have been conducted under secrecy. Artur’s lawyer, Paulo Amador Bueno da Cunha, stated that he would not comment on the case “out of respect for confidentiality”. According to the MP-SP, the scheme may have generated up to R$11 billion. Among the most emblematic episodes are those involving Ultrafarma and Fast Shop. In the case of the electronics network, the company’s controllers confessed to having paid R$400 million in bribes to Artur for the early release of ICMS-ST credits.
Fast Shop partners Milton Kazuyuki Kakumoto, Júlio Atsushi Kakumoto and director Mário Otávio Gomes — who was arrested in the operation — signed an agreement with the MP and agreed to pay fines of R$100 million.
Artur, who resigned from his position after being arrested in August, held strategic roles at the Finance Department, including supervisor of Reimbursement, Electronic Commerce and Establishment Networks. The investigation began after the breach of confidentiality by the Smart Tax consultancy, registered in the name of his mother, Kimio Mizukami da Silva, aged 73, identified by prosecutors as the ex-tax officer’s agent.
The progress of the investigations caused apprehension within the São Paulo tax authorities. The Finance Department began redoing all the reimbursements approved by Artur, which may reveal the involvement of other employees. A Special Processing Commission, determined by Secretary Samuel Kinoshita, investigates the case at the administrative level. Accountant Maria Hermínia de Jesus Santa Clara, a former employee of Artur, was summoned to testify on the 6th. Operation Ícaro, triggered by Gaeco, revealed a billion-dollar corruption scheme that involved the sale of tax decisions and the release of tax credits in exchange for bribes — one of the biggest cases ever investigated in São Paulo’s Treasury.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
