Milton Leite, a former speaker of São Paulo's City Council, turned himself in to civil police on Friday afternoon (Sept. 18) and was jailed under a court order for 30 days of temporary arrest. He surrendered at the Dise, the drug investigation precinct in Mogi das Cruzes, a city in Greater São Paulo, where the inquiry of Operation Vectura Corrupta is based, Folha de S.Paulo reports. Leite is an investigated suspect in a case examining whether bus companies in São Paulo state were taken over by the PCC, Brazil's largest criminal organization. No charges have been filed against him, and he denies any wrongdoing.
The former councilman had been considered a fugitive since Thursday (17), when officers went to his home address as the operation began and did not find him. He said at the time that he would turn himself in within 24 hours and denied the suspicions. On Friday morning, civil police and the São Paulo state prosecutor's office (MP-SP) searched a property owned by one of his aides in Sorocaba, inland São Paulo state. Leite was not there, but the authorities seized about 740,000 reais in cash, part of it in US dollars, from a suitcase, and found a secret passage connecting the aide's property to a house of Leite, according to InfoMoney. The origin of the money has not been disclosed.
What the investigation says
Launched on Thursday by civil police and state prosecutors, Vectura Corrupta examines suspicions that bus companies providing public transport in São Paulo state municipalities came to be run by PCC members after winning public tenders. Of the 16 temporary arrest warrants authorized by the courts, ten had been served before Leite's surrender, and five people remain at large, among them Paulo Sirqueira Korek Farias, president of the Água Santa football club. Investigators also suspect bribery of public officials and PCC financing of campaigns in the 2024 municipal elections and in this year's race. The operation branches from Operation Dercúrio, launched in August 2024 against a drug trafficking money laundering scheme attributed to the faction.
The arrest was authorized by appellate judge Sergio Ribas. In the decision quoted by InfoMoney, he wrote that Leite is "named repeatedly as directly responsible for the operation of some of the companies controlled by the PCC", and noted statements by military police officers, in a case before the Military Court, describing him as the de facto owner of Transwolff. The bus company ran routes in São Paulo for years; the city terminated its contract in 2024 after the prosecutor's Operation Fim da Linha targeted it on suspicion of PCC ties, which the company denies.
What the defenses say
Leite rejected the suspicions. "I deny it vehemently. I do not know anyone from the PCC in my life. My relationship with the transport sector was institutional, at the request of then mayor Bruno Covas. There is no possibility that I am the owner [of Transwolff]", he said, in remarks reported by Folha. Lawyers for Transwolff said Leite never held a stake in the company, never took part in management or gave orders to employees, and that any claim to the contrary is mistaken. Leite served seven consecutive terms as councilman, presided over the City Council for six years and left office at the end of 2024 after 28 years in the legislature, but remained influential in São Paulo politics.
The temporary arrest runs for 30 days, a window that closes around October 18. By then, police and prosecutors must conclude the inquiry or ask the courts to convert the detention into preventive arrest, while the defense may seek its revocation at any time. Detective Fabrício Intelizano, of the Mogi das Cruzes precinct, told reporters that a possible leak of the operation will be investigated, though there is no confirmation that one occurred.