Source: Jornal de Londrina - PR - 11/10/2009

Gas stations normally operate in Londrina, Maringá, Cambé, Arapongas and Marialva whose owners were arrested on Friday on charges of selling a mixture of anhydrous alcohol, solvents and dye as if it were gasoline. The price per liter of fraud was the same as the real product on the market: R $ 2,39.

In Londrina, Auto-Posto Leblon (northern zone) is in the crosshairs of the investigation. The owner, José Eduardo Maluf, became ill at Gaeco after being arrested. In Cambé, the suspicion of fraud falls on the Posto Paizão, belonging to Sérgio Góis de Oliveira, detained at home. In Arapongas, the owner of the Nova Mauá gas station, Jaime Lúzio, was also arrested on suspicion of selling a fraudulent product.

In the routine of the establishments nothing has changed, despite the operation of the Group for Action and Combating Organized Crime (Gaeco), which served nine arrest warrants out of 11, issued by the 2nd Criminal Court of Londrina against members of what is believed to be an adulteration network of gasoline. Two of them are wanted - the police consider them fugitives.

"We have no legal instruments to close the posts," said prosecutor Jorge Barreto, questioned by journalists. “If the Chamber had already approved the bill that removes the license from those who defraud the sector, we would not live in this contradictory situation”, said Marco Cito, Procon coordinator, referring to the project of Mayor Barbosa Neto (PDT) that is being processed at Chamber for analysis. "[To the consumer] It remains to be aware", he added.

The scheme

Police and prosecutors from Gaeco monitored the group for three months, which was filmed at several meetings, mainly during the manufacture of the fake gasoline, sold at market price. The product was prepared in Uraí, where a station bought by the gang, still closed, served as a factory for the illegal scheme. A tanker truck with 15 liters of the defrauded fuel was seized in Uraí and is in the yard of the 5th Police District in Londrina. “There was certainly distribution to many posts,” says promoter Claudio Esteves, from Gaeco.

Of the nine prisoners, four were station owners and the others are responsible for several stages of manufacture and distribution. Two were drivers, one acted as a carrier owner, the other as a chemist, one played the role of “investor” - who injected more than R $ 100 into the “business”, including the purchase of a tanker truck, according to the investigation . All are investigated for conspiracy (imprisonment of 1 to 3 years in prison) and crime against the consumer and the popular economy (1 to 5 years). They are held for at least another ten days, until the investigation is completed. Three of the group, having an academic degree, are at the Detention and Resocialization Center (CDR) while the others remain in the 2nd DP jail.

Procon fines five posts for abusive collection

In addition to Gaeco's police operation against product fraud, Procon fined five other stations in the city for selling alcohol above the profit margin stated by the establishments themselves as ideal. According to Marco Cito, in two of the stations, the profit margin was R $ 0,50 higher than the conventional one. “The liter was R $ 1,79 but with the sale at R $ 1,55 the profit would already be ideal. For us, it constitutes obtaining excessive advantage and abusive pricing ”, he says.

The coordinator of the consumer protection agency says that the analysis of the invoices for the purchase and sale of the service stations "made the excuse that distributors throw the price up" fall. According to Marcos Cito, the distributors are also under investigation. The names of the posts were not disclosed by the agency, which understands that the assessments are still in the administrative phase, and therefore has the right to ample defense.

According to the Consumer Protection promoter, Miguel Sogaiar, the abusive profitability was found from the testimony of the owners of the posts to the MP, who stated that the necessary profit for the maintenance of the sector is R $ 0,30. "Whoever gets hurt is the consumer who ends up paying a big difference," he said. Sogaiar also stated that the price in general practiced in Londrina, mainly in relation to the liter of fuel alcohol, draws attention for being one of the highest in Paraná. “Nothing justifies such a huge difference. In Curitiba, the liter is sold, on average, at R $ 1,50. Not to mention that there is not much variation in prices between the service stations ”, he said.

Detainees:

José Eduardo Maluf - Leblon Post in Londrina

Sérgio Góis de Oliveira - Post Paizão in Cambé

Jaime Lúzio - Posto Nova Mauá in Arapongas

Augusto Capeletti - group financier

Anderson Modesto Rodrigues - driver in Londrina

Hugo Leonardo Mendonça - reserve driver

Celso Aparecido Lucarellis - solvent seller in Apucarana

Ricardo Augusto Consalter - job owner in Marialva

Rodrigo Vieira - fuel negotiator, arrested for trafficking in Londrina

Outlaws: Levi Vieira - owner of a post in Uraí, a product factory, and another suspect who did not have his name revealed