Police officers and the prison guard where Milton Leite is imprisoned are interviewed by the Internal Affairs Department; defense denies privileges in jail

The São Paulo Civil Police Internal Affairs began hearing this Saturday (17), in the capital of São Paulo, the sectional delegate of Mogi das Cruzes, Margareth Barreto, the chief delegate of the city's 1st Police District and one of the jailers of the public prison where the former president of the São Paulo City Council, Milton Leite, is imprisoned.

The three were summoned to provide clarifications as part of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) operation carried out on Thursday (16), which investigates suspected irregularities and favoritism within the prison unit. Milton's defense denied that his client received any benefits.

Milton Leite is preventively detained by court decision on suspicion of being part of a criminal organization and having relations with members of the First Command of the Capital (PCC), according to an investigation by the MP. The former president of the Chamber also denies these accusations.

The purpose of the Internal Affairs Department is to understand in detail the functioning of the prison and verify the regularity of the actions of the agents responsible for the custody of prisoners. The extraordinary correction was initiated by order of inspector João Beolchi and has already identified preliminary flaws in internal procedures.

The complete analysis will depend on the documents seized by the Prosecutor's Office during the operation, which should be shared with the Internal Affairs Department in the coming days. This Saturday's hearings are expected to last between three and four hours.

On Thursday, prosecutors and police carried out search warrants at the Mogi das Cruzes public jail to investigate allegations that prisoners received irregular benefits. A jailer was investigated on suspicion of facilitating these advantages. During the operation, investigators seized R$155,000 and US$10,000 from the server.

In a statement, Milton Leite's defense denied any irregularity. According to the lawyers, the former president of the Chamber "does not receive and has never received any type of perk or special treatment in the unit where he is held."