Scheme that diverted millions from healthcare in Ceará used more than 80 shell companies and cash bunkers, points out PF
Quick Look
- Operation Coaptation, launched by the Federal Police, identified diversion of approximately R$20 million in 100 days using four of more than 80 fictitious companies linked to Coaph in Ceará.
- Five people were arrested, including the person responsible for the cash bunker at the cooperative's headquarters, where R$437,900 in cash were seized.
- The investigation investigates money laundering, corruption and criminal organizations, with evidence of transfers to public figures and the use of oranges to open fraudulent CNPJs.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Coaph is a cooperative that could not make a profit, but was used as a front to operate a scheme to divert public resources through fictitious companies and fraudulent invoices.
Warrants were served in the cities of Fortaleza/CE, Caucaia/CE, Eusébio/CE, Tauá/CE and Campina Grande/PB. — Photo: Disclosure/PF
Behind the million-dollar embezzlements in public health in Ceará, a criminal organization operated with more than 80 fictitious companies and maintained a "bunker" to manage cash within the Pre and Hospital Care Work Cooperative (Coaph). The operation of the scheme is contained in the Federal Court decision, obtained by the report, on Operation Coaptation, launched this week.
The investigation identified that only four of the more than 80 shell companies were used to embezzle around R$20 million in just 100 days. They are:
Blue Stel Reformas e Manutenção Ltda.
New Consultoria e Assessoria Ltda.
L&R Assessoria e Consultoria Ltda.
Serf Vehicle Rental Services in General Ltda.
Given this rate, researchers estimate that the complete network of shell companies may have drained hundreds of millions of reais from resources allocated to public health in Ceará in recent years.
Five people linked to Coaph were arrested last Thursday (8). According to the PF, the scheme used shell companies and false documents to sign contracts with municipalities and divert part of federal resources.
Understand: because it is a cooperative, Coaph could not make a profit. According to the investigation, shell companies were used to close contracts with city halls and issue invoices for services that they were unable to perform. Thus, the scheme would have allowed public money allocated to health to be diverted.
The investigation investigates crimes such as money laundering, corruption and criminal organizations. Coaph states that the operation also involves other companies in the sector and that it is necessary to "preserve an institution that provides essential health services". (See the full positioning below)
The "bunker" and the cash route
To erase the traces of public money and pay bribes to public agents and politicians, the group adopted the massive movement of resources in kind. According to the court decision, Coaph maintained an internal sector at its headquarters dedicated exclusively to managing this cash, which functioned like a bunker, even equipped with banknote counting machines.
Investigations point to employee Fernando Antônio Rosa Cavalcante as directly responsible for managing the location and receiving loot shipments. The scheme was caught by the Federal Police in 2024 when accountant and financial operator César Agamenon Carvalho Barbosa was intercepted with R$345,000 withdrawn from the account of a fictitious company, New Consultoria, on his way to the cooperative's headquarters. In total, R$437,900 in cash were seized from him at the time.
Approached by the police, the accountant claimed that the money would be used to pay cooperative doctors in cash. He also revealed that he had withdrawn another R$400,000 the day before, with the same justification.
Suspicion about the company used in the operation, New Consultoria, increased when investigators discovered that the alleged partner was an “orange man” who was imprisoned in the Ceará penitentiary system.
The analysis of the cell phones and notebook seized from César Agamenon during the police action was decisive in deepening the investigations, which identified parallel accounting, more than 80 fictitious companies and evidence of transfers to public figures.
"CNPJs factory"
The organization operated like a CNPJ "factory": it created companies, used the structures to issue fraudulent invoices and then discarded them. Surveys indicate that Coaph management even requested the formal write-off of more than 70 companies used in the scheme.
Data from the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) shows that Coaph received around R$1.8 billion in contracts with the Government of Ceará and city halls (including Fortaleza), of which approximately R$250 million came from federal health funds.
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What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
New arrests and indictments will occur in the coming weeks as the analysis of the seized cell phones and notebooks deepens the investigation.
Very likely · Within weeks
The Federal Comptroller General (CGU) and the Audit Courts must initiate accountability and compensation processes against those involved and entities benefiting from the scheme.
Likely · Within months
Open Questions
- What is the total amount embezzled by the complete network of more than 80 fictitious companies over the years?
- Which public figures received funds from the scheme and in what amounts?
- Which other companies in the sector are involved in the operation, as mentioned by Coaph?
- What is the fate of the seized cash and bribes paid to public agents?
