TCE-MT President Arrested Over Alleged $2.6 Million Bribery Scheme

Federal police and federal prosecutors have accused Sérgio Ricardo de Almeida, president of the Court of Accounts of Mato Grosso (TCE-MT), of receiving about 15 million reais in undeclared payments over ten months as part of an alleged corruption scheme he led within the state audit court. Minister Og Fernandes of the Superior Court of Justice ordered Almeida's preventive detention along with the state prosecutor general of accounts, Grhegory Paiva Pires, and four other people.

Investigators reached the figures through financial intelligence reports from Coaf and by lifting bank secrecy for Almeida and other suspects. Police say Almeida received more than 15 million reais between January 1 and October 22, 2025. The police representation lists 101 transfers in under ten months totaling 15,442,211.65 reais, including 10,785,553.29 reais in individual bank orders, 2,040,639.89 reais and 2,311,058.45 reais under supplier headings, and 304,960.02 reais as salary.

“The police representation lists 101 transfers in less than ten months destined for Sérgio Ricardo de Almeida totaling 15,442,211.65 reais.”

The investigation also indicates that seven councilors of the state audit court received about 48 million reais in undeclared payments, which were not published on the court's transparency portal. Payments were allegedly made directly from the TCE-MT account using funds from monthly allocations, but bypassed the normal payroll and went instead through the supplier payment channel.

The probe began after an anonymous tip that the TCE-MT president was using his office to pressure service providers. Investigators say that in 2024 Almeida issued ordinances suspending administrative contracts on budgetary grounds, while payments to selected companies were maintained and increased in exchange for returning part of the money in cash to the group linked to the presidency.

During the alleged period of resource scarcity, the agency's monthly payments rose by 13 million reais, from 67 million to 80 million reais. Bank analyses identified suspicious movements of 75.8 million reais over 294 days in 2025, plus an atypical transfer of 48.4 million reais to seven councilors through the supplier payment channel without proper official disclosure.

Police requested preventive detention for six suspects described as the operational core, including the agency president, advisers, and financial operators, citing risks to public order and the criminal investigation. The federal prosecutor's office, however, supported only alternative precautionary measures, arguing that removal from office and electronic monitoring would be sufficient at the current stage of the investigation.