Milton Leite, a former São Paulo city councilman and past president of the city council for the União Brasil party, remained a fugitive on Friday (18), more than 24 hours after announcing that he would turn himself in to the authorities to prove his innocence. Sources from the Civil Police and the state prosecutors' office confirmed to g1 that operations to find and arrest him continue. Leite is under investigation on suspicion of taking part in a scheme linking São Paulo bus operators to the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital), Brazil's largest criminal organization. He denies all the accusations.
Leite is the target of a temporary arrest warrant in Operation Vectura Corrupta, launched on Thursday (17) by the prosecutors' office and the Civil Police. When officers went to his home and did not find him, he told Folha de S.Paulo by phone that he was outside São Paulo and was getting organized with his lawyers to surrender within 24 hours. His press office also released a statement that morning:
"I am traveling, I am not a fugitive, and I will present myself to the authorities within 24 hours. I will prove my innocence against all accusations."
Police raid in Sorocaba
On Friday morning, police and prosecutors searched a property in Sorocaba, a city in the interior of São Paulo state, where they suspected Leite might be hiding. He was not there. According to g1, officers found money and documents with another person at the property, who could not explain their origin: 280,000 reais and 89,000 US dollars (roughly 457,000 reais) were seized. Folha reported that Leite had passed through the property on Wednesday, the day before the operation, but was no longer there on Friday.
In all, the court ordered 16 temporary arrests and issued 18 search warrants, served in the city of São Paulo and in Santana de Parnaíba, São Bernardo do Campo, Diadema, Santos, Praia Grande and Cubatão. According to g1, ten suspects were arrested and six, including Leite, remained at large; the report said his lawyers could not be reached for comment. Among those detained are Levi dos Santos Oliveira, former head of SPTrans, the city's transit authority, and Danilo Marco Morgado Silva, a former mayoral candidate in Praia Grande now running for a seat in the state legislature.
What the investigation alleges and how the sides respond
Vectura Corrupta grows out of Operation Decúrio, launched in 2024, and investigates money laundering, corruption and the use of bus companies to move funds tied to the faction. Prosecutors say at least 12 of the 22 bus operators serving the capital are directly or indirectly controlled by the PCC, an allegation from the investigation still subject to judicial review. The ruling that authorized the operation identifies Leite as the "de facto owner" of Transwolff, a bus company investigated in 2024 in Operation Fim da Linha and accused of laundering money for the faction. According to Folha, the warrant against Leite rests mainly on mentions by third parties: a July 2024 conversation between businessman José Daniel Satilite, of Translider, and a lawyer, and a message from a military police sergeant who called Leite his "boss".
Leite denies any stake in Transwolff and any ties to the PCC. The company also denies the accusations and said the former councilman never held a shareholding, never took part in management and never gave orders at the firm. As an investigation target, he is presumed innocent unless a court rules otherwise. The manhunt for the six fugitives continues. If Leite is arrested or turns himself in, he must be brought before a judge in a custody hearing, a mandatory step in Brazil within 24 hours of an arrest, when the court reviews the legality and the necessity of the detention.