The MPF accusation pointed out that police officers who worked in the municipalities of Joinville and Barra Velha controlled services offered by companies for towing cars that had crashed or were seized on the roads. In return, tow trucks needed to pay agents an average of 40% of the value of the services.
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The case was investigated by the PRF and later became an investigation by the Federal Police. The complaint offered by the MPF reached 16 police officers in the same region. Payments, according to investigations, were made in cash, checks and even bank deposits. The facts discovered occurred from the mid-1990s to December 2000.
The complaint individualized the conduct. Against Silvinei Vasques, the MPF pointed out that he, “acting in competition and with unity of purpose” with the other police officers, “demanded, for himself and for others, directly, in the exercise of his functions, undue advantages from towing service providers consisting of amounts that varied around 40% of the value of the service”.
The complaint detailed, based on broken banking and tax secrecy, three receipts of dubious origin in Silvinei Vasques' account. One of them, for R$ 1,5 thousand (one thousand and five hundred reais).
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An accusation of threat was also weighed against Silvinei, according to information gathered from one of the complaining tow drivers: “(…) Vasques threatened him with a shot in the forehead and to warn the (other complainant) to take care of himself, because he had nothing to lose. He claims that the problems that occurred between the PRF and his boss's company occur because his boss no longer gives commission to the PRFs, as they only work with insurance companies.”
No one was punished
The case was never judged, as the Federal Court of Santa Catarina recognized the statute of limitations for most of the crimes mentioned. The complaint was received by the Judiciary on March 30, 2011 and most of the facts investigated were prior to March 1999.
(To Estadão Content)
