Suspected of being part of a criminal organization dedicated to the sale of sentences and the quick release of permits, four judges from the Maranhão Court of Justice – denounced by the Attorney General’s Office last July – received R$627,000 net in salaries in the last quarter.
Targets of , magistrates Antonio Pacheco Guerreiro Júnior, Luiz Gonzaga Almeida Filho, Marcelino Everton Chaves and Nelma Celeste Sousa Silva Sarney Costa have been away from their duties at the Palácio Clóvis Beviláqua, in São Luís, since October 2024.
O Estadão requested a statement from the Court on the remunerations that exceeded the constitutional text, set at R$ 46,366.19 (gross value) by the Constitution, but had not received a response until the publication of this text.
Opportunity with security!
The magistrates deny involvement in the sentence selling scheme.
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Payment to dismissed judges occurs in the state that leads the country’s extreme poverty rates. Maranhão has the highest proportion of people in this condition in Brazil. According to the IBGE 2022 Census, 8.4% of the population, around 560 thousand people, live on less than R$200 per month. Another 57.9% are in poverty, with an income of up to R$637 per month.
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The average per capita income in the State was R$409 in 2023, the year in which the national minimum wage was set at R$1,320. Between November and January, the month that most favored dismissed judges was December, which recorded an average of R$83 thousand in net salary for Guerreiro Júnior, Luiz Gonzaga and Nelma Celeste Sousa Silva Sarney Costa – sister-in-law of former president José Sarney (MDB).
Bulky paychecks
The winning paycheck was that of Guerreiro Júnior, who, despite being suspected of defrauding Banco do Nordeste of R$17 million through quick decisions, received R$87,137.82 in December.
Marcelino Everton Chaves, voluntarily retired in August 2023, before the launch of Operation 18 Minutes, received R$42,364.42 net.
Nelma Sarney, who received R$83,218.01 in December, was already away from the Maranhão Court of Justice when Operation 18 Minutes was launched. By decision of the National Council of Justice, she was placed ‘on availability’ for two years, a sanction that keeps her away from her duties, with remuneration proportional to the length of service.
The penalty was applied after the conclusion of an administrative disciplinary process initiated in February 2024. According to the CNJ, the magistrate ‘acted with imprudence and partiality’ when benefiting a former advisor so that he could be approved in a notary public exam in the State.
In the last month of 2025, a period traditionally marked by inflating the already high salaries of the judiciary, the payroll of the four dismissed judges cost the treasury R$ 296,073.77.
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In November, the total payroll of judges reached R$ 184,800.08. In January, it reached R$146,205.59, not including Marcelino’s salary, who, as he is retired, has not yet had his salaries published by the Court last month.
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18 Minutes
Operation 18 Minutes investigates a group of judges suspected of manipulating cases at the Maranhão Court of Justice “with the intention of obtaining financial advantage”, according to the Federal Police.
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The action received this name because, in one of the cases analyzed, only 18 minutes would have passed between the order of one of the investigated magistrates and the withdrawal of the released amount. The Prosecutor’s Office is investigating an alleged embezzlement of R$50 million, an amount related to permits issued in processes with signs of fraud.
Financial Intelligence Reports (RIFs) from COAF – a financial intelligence body – indicated ‘suspicious transactions’ and pointed to the occurrence of several atypical transactions involving the withdrawal of permits in fraudulent processes, to the detriment of Banco do Nordeste do Brasil, ‘through suspicious judicial decisions’.
Such decisions would have supported actions of interest to the lawyer Francisco Xavier de Sousa Filho, a former employee of the financial institution, who claimed the right to credit related to the supposed honorary amount.
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In 2024, by order of the Superior Court of Justice, federal agents carried out search warrants in the offices and residences of magistrates. The investigation examines a sequence of decisions that would have resulted in deviations in million-dollar shares, with monetary correction calculations considered unjustified or non-existent and signs of “selective speed” in the processing.
