09/02/2024 – 16:10
The Civil Police and the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp) are investigating a possible million-dollar misappropriation of funds transferred to researchers at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). Suspicions about the loss, which could reach R$2 million, fall on a server at Unicamp's Biology Institute (IB) who was fired for just cause in January this year.
The defense of the former Unicamp employee told the report that she “vehemently” denies the alleged deviations and is available to clarify all the facts. The funds would have been withdrawn from the accounts of at least 28 researchers using a service company opened by the suspect in his own name.
The investigation began at the end of last year, when Fapesp detected possible irregularities in the accountability process of a researcher. The case was revealed by Folha de S.Paulo and confirmed by Estadão. The Public Ministry said it had been informed of the case and was awaiting documents to continue the investigation.
“By making requests for clarification, he drew the attention of this and other researchers to what was later identified as a problem by the management of IB-Unicamp. Fapesp continues to analyze the financial statements already made by the researchers in question”, said the foundation.
As a state body that promotes academic research, Fapesp transfers resources to researchers at state universities after the approval of research projects considered relevant and of public interest.
Researchers need to prove the use of funds in accordance with the projects. In the case of the University of Campinas, the intermediation between the source of resources and the researchers is carried out by the Unicamp Development Foundation (Funcamp).
Funcamp supports academics in their accountability and, since 2018, this work was carried out by the employee who had worked for ten years in the IB Researcher Support Secretariat. To do this, it had access to the financial movement of these resources.
In April 2018, shortly after assuming her role at the secretariat, the employee opened a micro-company based in Campinas, whose main economic activity was “maintenance and repair of unspecified equipment and products”, as stated in the legal entity registration.
Through the company, registered in her name, the server is suspected of issuing invoices and attaching them to the declarations as if she had provided services to the researchers.
The values are still being determined, but only one researcher pointed out a possible deviation of R$56,000. Three invoices from the server's micro-company referring to fictitious services, according to the researcher, would have been added to its financial statements.
The employee was fired for just cause on January 18th. In the same month, his company was closed.
The Institute reported having registered a police report with the Civil Police and is awaiting ongoing investigations at Fapesp.
The São Paulo Public Security Secretariat (SSP-SP) reported that the case was presented on the 1st in the 7th Police District of Campinas. “At the time of the complaint, the victims (researchers) presented precarious data, being instructed by the police team to gather more information and documents to, in this way, make it possible to record the crime and provide direction to the investigations”, he stated, in a note.
Also in a note, Unicamp informed that the Institute of Biology is investigating “the possible diversion of financial resources originating from the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp)” and said that, as the investigation is still ongoing, the Disclosure of more details “could be detrimental to the investigations”.
According to Fapesp, it is the foundation's responsibility to point out potential irregularities in financial reporting to researchers. If they are proven and not resolved, Fapesp will charge the researchers to return the resources.
“At the same time, Fapesp will monitor the legal measures that researchers and the research institution to which they are linked are taking, as victims of the alleged crime,” he said.
The foundation also said that it is up to the researchers who receive resources to manage the finances and account for expenses and the results of the research.
“If the research institution, or its supporting foundation, through its servers or employees, fails to fulfill its commitments in relation to what was agreed with the researchers, a relationship of responsibility between these institutions towards the researcher naturally arises”, he stated.
Defense
To the Estadãocriminal lawyer Rafael Azevedo, who defends the former Unicamp employee, said that she “vehemently” denies the alleged embezzlement of money.
“What I can say is that this defense was not given access to the police investigation and administrative investigation. Nothing has been passed on this issue. The fact is that my client denies the alleged deviations reported and is entirely willing to clarify these facts of the alleged accusation against her,” she said.
The lawyer said he was at the Civil Police unit responsible for the case and was informed that there is still no formal accusation against his client. “If there is any situation that requires clarification, everything will be clarified by the defense and my client.”
According to him, other labor issues resulting from the employee's dismissal will be discussed later in the Labor Court.
#Police #investigate #suspicion #millionaire #embezzlement #Fapesp #funds #transferred #Unicamp
