World
São Paulo City Hall accuses Flávio Dino of deflecting attention by mentioning André Mendonça’s brother
Ricardo Nunes’ administration rejected the arguments used by the magistrate to seek an investigation into André Mendonça’s vote in a case involving funeral services in the São Paulo capital. It also defended the hiring of the minister’s brother and a course from Instituto Iter.
The administration of São Paulo mayor Ricardo Nunes said that minister Flávio Dino is trying to create a “smokescreen” by asking for an investigation into his colleague André Mendonça for having voted, according to that claim, in line with the interests of private cemeteries in the São Paulo capital, Folha de S.Paulo reported.
According to that outlet, Dino made that decision this Tuesday 15 in the context of ADPF 1,196, a case that debates the provision of funeral, cemetery and cremation services in São Paulo.
In his ruling, according to Folha de S.Paulo, Dino mentioned that Alexandre Almeida Mendonça, André Mendonça’s brother, was hired by Nunes’ administration in 2024 and later became executive secretary of SP Regula, the agency that oversees public services granted by the municipality, in May of this year.
The city hall said these were legal hires and said regular ties are being used to build “political narratives” without support in the facts. It also said it is striking, in its view, that suspicions are being directed at the municipal administration at a time of strong criticism of the Supreme Federal Court.
The municipal administration also said that Alexandre Almeida Mendonça joined SP Regula after a selection process carried out in 2024, with evaluation of résumés, background and interviews. According to the City Hall Transparency Portal cited by Folha de S.Paulo, he received 24,687.80 reais in August. The administration added that there was only a change of function, within the same hierarchical level.
To support his request for an investigation into André Mendonça, Dino also referred, according to Folha de S.Paulo, to the fact that Nunes’ administration is a client of Instituto Iter, founded by the magistrate, which sells courses to authorities and public administrators.
The outlet recalled that City Hall paid 183,000 reais for one of those courses for 32 agents of the Metropolitan Civil Guard. That contract was carried out by the Municipal Secretariat for Urban Security without bidding, under the figure of non-enforceability.
On that point, Nunes’ administration said the hiring of Instituto Iter was made after reviewing other institutions and complied with the procurement law, which allows the competitive process to be waived for specialized technical services of training and professional development.
According to Folha de S.Paulo, it was not possible to contact André Mendonça’s brother.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this fact.
