The Civil Police of São Paulo said on Tuesday (15) that it will indict at least four people for homicide with eventual intent ("dolo eventual") over the collapse of a building under construction on Tequici street, in the Penha district of eastern São Paulo. The structure fell onto a house in the early hours of Saturday (12) and killed six people, five of them Bolivian immigrants and one Paraguayan, according to Folha de S.Paulo. Those to be indicted include the three suspects linked to the New Home construction company and a municipal building inspector. None has been convicted: under Brazilian law, an indictment ("indiciamento") is a police step within the investigation, not a finding of guilt.
According to the Itaquera district police chief, Antônio José Pereira, the three suspects already covered by temporary arrest warrants and the civil servant will be indicted. Eventual intent, in the police's reading, means in theory that those responsible knew of risks that could lead to death and went ahead with the work anyway. Twelve people have been heard so far.
Timeline of the case
Problems at the site go back at least five years, according to the city government. In 2021, the municipality asked a court to order the demolition of an irregular structure there and applied a fine of R$ 119,000. In 2022, the company filed a new project, and in 2023 the city issued a permit conditional on demolishing the earlier structure. In February 2024, an inspection by the Penha borough administration recorded the demolition of 154 square meters. In her report, inspector Viviane Rodrigues de Palma, 54, wrote that the demolition had been "carried out in full, giving way to a new building under construction". Photos attached to the document appear to show the building erected since 2019, and the company's lawyer confirmed after the collapse that nothing had been demolished.
The inspector's testimony and the defense
Questioned for about two hours on Tuesday, Viviane admitted that she never entered the site during her inspection.
"When I arrived, the work was stopped and already well advanced, it already had several floors, but it was not finished. (...) we don't enter a private construction site without authorization."
The inspector denied attesting to the demolition. "At no point did I state that that building had been demolished," she said, according to G1. The city removed her from duty for 120 days to keep her from interfering with the investigation.
Businessman Ronaldo Vivacqua, 63, described by police as a hidden partner of New Home, had his temporary arrest upheld at a custody hearing. He does not appear in the companies' records, but witnesses told police that he "acted, administered, managed and effectively participated in the work". His son, engineer Cristiano Vivacqua, who designed the project and was responsible for its execution, and Isis Brandão, the company's formal owner, remain fugitives. The defense denies that Ronaldo is a hidden partner, says he only accompanied his son, calls the arrests premature and has asked for his release or house arrest, citing a "serious and documented health condition". On Monday (14), the lawyers said the couple would turn themselves in within days. New Home said it opened an internal inquiry, that there are not yet enough elements to determine the cause of the collapse, and that it does not exempt itself from any responsibility the investigations may point to.
The indictment will still be formalized in the inquiry ("inquérito"), with police detailing the role of each suspect individually. A ruling on Ronaldo's release request and the whereabouts of the fugitive couple remain pending. The city government, for its part, halted 26 projects linked to the construction companies on Tuesday.