The Attorney General of São Paulo, Paulo Sérgio de Oliveira e Costa, defended rules to guarantee “adequate remuneration” for public prosecutors amid discussions in the (Supreme Federal Court) to impose limits on the so-called penduricalhos — benefits they create for civil servants in legal careers.
Oliveira e Costa commented on the topic on Monday night (2), in an Italian restaurant in Vila Nova Conceição, south of the capital, at an event to mark the launch of his candidacy for reappointment. The election will be on April 11th.
Oliveira e Costa gave a speech lasting around ten minutes and highlighted MP-SP’s actions in combating crime and recovering resources hidden by criminal organizations, citing 210 operations that, according to him, seized R$9 billion from organized crime throughout his administration, which began in April 2024. He stated that this work — the institution’s constitutional role — justifies the search for more resources and better budgetary conditions.
“I say that this is the way to show that the Public Prosecutor’s Office is not a cost for society, but rather an investment for society and that, therefore, with our heads held high, we have to seek the best budget, the best conditions and even our financial and budgetary autonomy so that we can use the money from crime against crime itself”, he said.
Shortly after speaking, in an interview with Sheetthe attorney general acknowledged that there are abuses in the granting of benefits. “When this movement came out [de combate aos penduricalhos]for me it was very clear that it was necessary to put a brake on tidying up so that we could achieve a remuneration system that would not embarrass us due to some abuses”, he stated.
The topic is under analysis by the STF, which discusses the limits for the payment of compensation amounts outside the constitutional ceiling.
Decisions by ministers Flávio Dino and Gilmar Mendes suspended payments not provided for by law, but Gilmar later released, for 45 days, the payment of administratively recognized retroactive payments that were already scheduled for the period.
With the measure, on the 26th, Oliveira e Costa told members of the state Public Ministry that “payments made monthly will follow their normal course, with no type of reduction in these funds”.
This Monday, the attorney general said that he had gone to Brasília to discuss the matter with court ministers and cited the president, Edson Fachin, and minister Alexandre de Moraes — a career São Paulo public prosecutor.
“What they are discussing is the absolute autonomy of innovating without any organic criteria. So, from this aspect, maintaining the capacity for a decent salary, I think it is absolutely natural for an adequate remuneration system to be organized,” he said.
“No one wants to be on the newspaper page. Because, in truth, everyone is right. We are right, as are the press and society. Each has their own reason. But when you have to explain a lot, it’s not good. It ends up hurting the image of the institution”, he stated.
In January 2024, before Oliveira e Costa took office, the payroll of members of the public ministry cost R$76.7 million, in values at the time.
Under his management, the attorney general recognized benefits to which prosecutors were supposedly entitled, which resulted in payments beyond the constitutional ceiling, and last January the payroll reached R$104.7 million, an increase of around 36.5%. If the 2024 payroll had been updated for inflation, the variation would be 9.66% and the total would be R$84.11 million. The MP-SP has around 2 thousand active members.
Official salaries in the category vary between R$34,000 and R$41,000. With extras, the average payment to the category in January was R$52,400. The civil service fee is R$46.3 thousand.
In the election for attorney general, prosecutors vote on the formation of a triple list among the members of the category, which is forwarded to governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), who can choose any of the three names, regardless of the voting order. Oliveira e Costa came in third place in the last election, in 2024.
For this year, so far, he has no competitors. Prosecutors interviewed by the report consider the chances of an opponent coming forward to be low, given the internal assessment that his reappointment by the governor is likely. Part of the category criticizes the close relationship between Oliveira and Costa and Tarcísio.
In his speech, the attorney general also responded to internal criticism. “A lot of the criticism we receive is from people who already had the opportunity to do it and didn’t do it, had the obligation to do it and didn’t do it and now they come to criticize us, instead of trying to help us”, he said, without naming his predecessors.
The prosecutor spoke alongside federal deputy Carlos Sampaio (PSD-SP) and his immediate predecessor, Mario Sarrubbo, who, during Ricardo Lewandowski’s tenure at the Ministry of Justice, held the position of national secretary of Public Security and participated in the formulation of the Lula (PT) government’s anti-crime package — the Public Security PEC and the Anti-Faction bill — later amended in Congress.
