Federal Prosecutors File Charges Against Suspended Sorocaba Mayor Rodrigo Manga Over Health-Contract Scheme

Overview

• Brazil’s federal prosecutors accused Rodrigo Manga, his wife and 11 others of running an organized scheme to divert municipal health funds, listing crimes that include corruption, peculato, money laundering and bid fraud.
• Manga has been out of office since November by order of the TRF-3 after the Federal Police’s second phase of Operação Copia e Cola targeted alleged irregularities in Sorocaba’s health services outsourcing.
• The complaint centers on contracts with the social organization Iase and links to Aceni, alleging one no-bid deal justified by a non-existent emergency and a second public call structured to favor a preselected entity.
• Investigators report cash seizures of R$646,000 from businessman Marcos Mott and R$700,000 from pastor Josivaldo Batista de Souza, atypical small-denomination deposits and a spreadsheet said to log inflows and outflows tied to the scheme.
• Prosecutors seek asset confiscation, restitution and a R$7 million indemnity split between the Union and the municipality, while Manga’s defense and the implicated organizations deny wrongdoing and call the probe politically motivated under court seal.