Former Caixa treasurer is convicted of embezzling almost R$890,000

The 5th Specialized Panel of the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region (TRF2) confirmed the conviction for administrative improbity of a former treasurer of Caixa Econômica Federal for embezzling R$889,500 from four of the bank's ATMs. According to the sentence, the money was used to place bets on online bets.

The conviction was confirmed at the end of October, and the judgment (collegiate decision) was published on November 6th. According to the first degree sentence, Irineu Barth Júnior, who was fired by Caixa after disciplinary proceedings, admitted in court that he diverted the amount to gamble.

He was ordered to return the embezzled amount and also to pay a fine of the same amount. Added together, the sanctions amount to R$1.779 million. The sentence was handed down by judge Igor de Lazari Barbosa Carneiro, of the 5th Federal Civil Court of Vitória, in a case filed by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF).

The judge also sentenced the former treasurer to the loss of any public role he may hold when the case becomes final, that is, when there are no more appeals.

The defense can still try to reverse the conviction in the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) or in the Federal Supreme Court (STF), alleging some procedural or constitutional nullity in the conduct of the process.

According to the sentence, the deviations occurred over the course of a year, between July 2020 and July 2021.

“In the personal statement given at the hearing, the defendant admitted that he used the functional cash register to authenticate and pay invoices intended for crediting amounts on betting platforms, without the corresponding entry of cash, thus recognizing the dynamics used to subtract amounts belonging to Caixa”, described the judge.

According to the judge's description, the subtraction of the amounts was noticed during the defendant's medical leave, when his substitute noticed the accounting difference between the amounts that should appear in the ATMs and the actual counting of the money.

“The administrative investigation confirmed that all terminals in which the differences were identified remained under the functional responsibility of the defendant during the period investigated”, states the judge, referring to the administrative disciplinary process filed against the former treasurer.

The former Caixa employee was only convicted in the civil sphere, after having signed a non-criminal prosecution agreement with the MPF, thus no longer responding in the criminal sphere.

In court, Irineu Barth Júnior's defense claimed that his client was diagnosed with ludopathy, that is, a pathological addiction to games. The condition was recognized by the National Social Security Institute (INSS), claimed the defendant's lawyer.