SP: Former auditor is accused of corruption with luxury car dealership
The former tax auditor of Sefaz-SP (São Paulo State Finance Department), Artur Gomes da Silva Neto, was denounced for a passive corruption scheme involving the luxury vehicle dealership Autostar. Two other people from the group allegedly led by Artur were also reported.
The complaint was presented this week by Gedec (Special Action Group for the Suppression of Economic Offenses) of the Public Ministry of São Paulo. Artur is in preventive custody for another case on charges of crimes that caused billions in losses to the State.
In the new accusation, which arises from investigations into fraudulent approval of ICMS credits with Sefaz, the MP cites the same criminal model, but with peculiarities in favor of Autostar and other companies in the Automob group. Other criminal actions deal with accusations involving Ultrafarma, Fast Shop and Rede 28 gas stations.
In general, the scheme combined intentional manipulation of files by "multiplication factor" on reimbursements with privileged processing of administrative requests, conducted by the former auditor.
According to the MP, in the case of Autostar, Artur maintained "an identical relationship of fraudulent provision of "tax advice" in two different administrations of the same group of companies. First with the former CEO of the company's network and then with the sale of the companies to the Automob group.
Two people mentioned as being involved in the scheme, in addition to the former president of Autostar, have already signed ANPPs (Non-Criminal Prosecution Agreements) with the prosecution. Therefore, they provided information to the Public Prosecutor's Office and were not reported.
The bribery scheme
The prosecution points out that the bribe was agreed as follows:
- The former president of Autostar agreed to pay 5% and 7% of the net amount, but only when these amounts became available to him;
- After the acquisition of the company by Automob, a lawyer organized for the group to be remunerated with 10% of the credits determined and released by Sefaz, with 6% going to Artur.
The MP explains that payments were not made due to the launch of Operation Ícaro, in August 2025, which arrested the owner of Ultrafarma Sidney Oliveira.
For this reason, the new complaint does not charge the crime of money laundering, but only passive corruption, since consummation depends only on the request or acceptance of a promise of an advantage, in accordance with article 317 of the Penal Code.
The complaint reveals that Artur personally granted six ICMS-ST reimbursement requests in favor of Autostar, and saw the respective reimbursement invoices, totaling R$ 100,649,999.99.
Then, still as tax auditor at Sefaz-SP, he coordinated the preparation of the files and their transmission to the Secretariat's system, carried out at Autostar's headquarters personally by Maria Hermínia de Jesus, another accused, on June 26, 2025.
The files refer to the period between January 2021 and December 2024, for the same branches that had already benefited from the scheme, indicating the continuity of the fraud, despite the change in the dealerships' operations after being taken over by Automob.
Passive corruption
According to the complaint, together with Artur Neto, Fátima Rizzardi and Maria Hermínia committed passive corruption by requesting and accepting promises of undue advantage between December 2020 and July 2024.
Six times, the trio would receive 5% and 7% of the earnings that the former president of Autostar would have, to help the company's dealerships obtain the reimbursement of ICMS-ST credits "in a quick and overpriced manner".
In addition, the group, also between July 2024 and July 2025, accepted a bribe of 10% of the profit provided to the companies, from another person under investigation.
"The group led by Artur Gomes da Silva Neto acted as a true informal consultancy embedded in the Sefaz structure itself", states the MP in an excerpt of the document. The indictment shows that the trio guided the executives of the contributing companies on the information to be provided, generated and manipulated the files to be transmitted, and instructed responses to notifications issued by them, accelerating the granting of credits.
Audio messages sent by Artur to Fatima and Maria Hermínia indicate that the group manipulated the data that would be transmitted to the Secretariat, adding a "turbo". With a goal of "multiplying by 5", the objective was to artificially inflate the ICMS credits to be reimbursed.
In the end, the reimbursements were obtained with artificially increased values, "in a fraud that was only possible through the connivance of the tax auditor who subscribed to the administrative decisions", according to the complaint.
The MP calls for the group to be condemned for six counts of passive corruption in material competitions. To CNN Brasil, Artur's defense stated that they will speak technically in the process. See the positioning:
"The Defense of Artur Gomes da Silva Neto, represented by Dr. Júlio César De Nigris Boccalini, will not make a judgment on the merits of the press, especially regarding video or documents whose origin, completeness, context and chain of custody still need to be controlled in the records. The Defense has already requested full access to the related procedures and will express itself technically in the process. Any accusation must be demonstrated by lawful, complete, contextualized evidence and submitted to the adversarial process. Artur will continue to defend itself in the case, with serenity and respect for the Judiciary."
In a note, Automob states that the complaint refers to the period prior to the acquisition of Autostar. Read in full:
"The Company informs that it has become aware of the existence of a complaint involving facts allegedly occurring in one of its subsidiaries. Regarding the matter disclosed on this date (11/06), the facts refer to the period prior to the acquisition of the company, completed in April 2022. In relation to the period under the current administration, the Company clarifies that there are no records of use of tax credits arising from benefits granted by the State of São Paulo. Tax credits are previously validated before their use and are in full compliance with legislation and regulatory compliance. The Company reaffirms its commitment to ethics, integrity and compliance with legal and regulatory obligations, remaining available to provide all necessary clarifications to the competent authorities."
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Prison for ICMS fraud
Last Wednesday (10), the former auditor was arrested again, after being released on June 2, for continuing to commit crimes even under precautionary measures, as part of the ICMS corruption and fraud scheme. He was the subject of preventive arrest warrants and found at his home in Ribeirão Pires (SP).
Artur is already a defendant in seven criminal actions filed by the Public Ministry of São Paulo. By next week, he should be denounced in three other investigations.
In total, he is responsible for more than 130 cases of money laundering and corruption in schemes related to the companies Fast Shop, Ultrafarma and Rede 28. The cases were investigated during operations Ícaro, Wizard of Oz and Fisco Paralelo, all carried out by the São Paulo Public Ministry.
The former auditor of Sefaz-SP (Secretariat of Finance and Planning of the State of São Paulo), dismissed in August 2025, was arrested at home this Wednesday, subject to two preventive arrest warrants and one search and seizure warrant. With him, several documents were found evidencing the continued criminal practice, even under precautionary measures.
Documents obtained by the report also detail the financial impacts of the scheme led by Artur, identified since the beginning of investigations in the first months of 2025, which add up to R$8.53 billion in losses to the State.
Source: CNN