Brazil's Federal Police launched the 10th phase of Operation Overclean on Thursday (17), serving 24 search and seizure warrants across six states to investigate suspected fraud in contracts worth more than 80 million reais signed by the education secretariat of Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais state, in 2024 and 2025. According to the force, at least three contracts already reviewed account for that amount, and other procurement cases are also being examined, which could raise the final figure.
Warrants were served in Minas Gerais, Bahia, São Paulo, Tocantins, Paraná and Espírito Santo. Officers seized about 230,000 reais in cash in Ervália, a town in the Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais, and in the city of São Paulo, news site G1 reports. Teams were still in the field and the amount could rise. If confirmed, the suspected crimes include crimes against public administration, bid rigging and contract fraud, criminal organization and money laundering.
Targets include former Belo Horizonte education secretary Bruno Barral, who also held a secretary post in Salvador, and people linked to businessman José Marcos Moura, known as the "trash king", according to CNN Brasil. Investigators say Barral favored the hiring of companies owned by Moura and by businessman Alex Parente in the Minas Gerais capital. Barral had already been targeted in an earlier phase of the operation. The Federal Police says the facts remain suspicions under investigation, and all targets are presumed innocent.
How the case got here
Overclean was authorized by a federal court in December 2024 to examine irregularities in a contract of Dnocs, the federal agency for public works against drought, in Bahia state. Because the case involves politicians with privileged standing to be tried only by the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), Brazil's top court, it was sent there, where Justice Nunes Marques is the rapporteur. Investigators estimate the group moved 1.4 billion reais and diverted public funds from engineering contracts, including through congressional budget earmarks known as "emendas parlamentares". In August, the Federal Police formally named José Marcos Moura and 24 other people, among public officials and private agents, as suspects. Moura denied any wrongdoing at the time.
The Belo Horizonte city government said the current administration has signed no contracts to buy teaching materials and uses books supplied by the federal PNLD textbook program. City Hall added that it has received no request connected to the operation and stands ready to assist the authorities.
The next step is the analysis of the seized material, which will feed into the inquiry pending at the STF. The Federal Police has announced no deadline for closing the investigation and no further phases. According to G1, the force treats the facts as suspicions and considers the investigation ongoing.