Edvaldo Neto (Avante) was the target of a PF operation this Tuesday (April 14) investigating fraud in tenders
This Tuesday (April 14, 2026), the Court ordered the removal of the mayor of Cabedelo (PB), Edvaldo Neto (Avante), from office.
He was one of the targets of carried out by the Federal Police, by the Gaeco (Special Action Group to Combat Criminal Organizations) and by the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union). The action investigates fraud in tenders, diversion of public resources and possible links between political authorities and criminal organizations.
The investigations uncover a scheme that may have generated up to R$270 million through fraudulent contracts.
Authorities identified signs of a possible consortium involving high-ranking politicians from the municipality, businesspeople and members of criminal factions. The investigations point to the financing of “Tropa do Amigão”, identified as an arm of Comando Vermelho in the region.
The decision was applied 2 days after the supplementary elections held in Cabedelo, on Sunday (April 12, 2026), in which Edvaldo was elected mayor. He has been interim mayor since 2025, when he took over municipal administration after resigning as president of the City Council, on December 15, 2025.
The interim inauguration took place after the then mayor André Coutinho (Avante) and vice-mayor Camila Holanda (PP) had their mandates revoked due to suspicion of a relationship with a criminal faction.
Edvaldo Neto’s defense stated that the measure is “provisional in nature” e “which does not imply any definitive judgment of guilt”. It also states that “the mayor never maintained any link or relationship with a criminal faction, such an accusation being absolutely untrue and incompatible with his public trajectory”.
Read Edvaldo Neto’s full note:
“The defense of the Mayor of Cabedelo, Edvaldo Neto, makes it public to clarify that he calmly accepts the decision that determined his precautionary removal, a measure of a provisional nature that does not imply any definitive judgment of guilt.
“The absolute tranquility regarding the investigation of the facts is reaffirmed, certain that, in the regular course of the process and under the scrutiny of adversarial proceedings and full defense, all circumstances will be duly clarified.
“The Mayor has never maintained any link or relationship with a criminal faction, such an accusation being absolutely untrue and incompatible with his public trajectory.
“It is also worth highlighting that on yesterday (13), a bill of an ‘anti-faction’ nature was sent to the Municipal Legislative Branch, which aims to prohibit the hiring, by the Public Administration, of people who respond to processes or investigations related to drug trafficking and criminal organizations, an initiative that unequivocally reinforces its commitment to legality, administrative probity and the firm confrontation of crime.
“The defense has full confidence in the institutions and in the reestablishment of the truth, convinced that the manager’s innocence will be recognized in the end.”
