Paulo Cesar Siqueira Cavalcante Farias (September 20, 1945 – June 23, 1996) commonly known as Paulo Cesar Farias or PC Farias, was the political campaign treasurer of
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian President
Fernando Collor de Mello
Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Coll ...
and a central figure in the corruption scandal that resulted in Collor's 1992 removal from Brazil's presidential office.
Corruption scandal
PC (as he was colloquially known) was a successful and famous campaign treasurer in
Alagoas
Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. It ...
and a relatively unsuccessful businessman before associating himself with Collor in 1981. As campaign treasurer, PC typically collected much more than he spent on the campaign. The remainder (which was estimated to be over 50 million US
dollars) was invested in his own businesses (such as an
air taxi
An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand.
In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...
service) or hidden in anonymous overseas accounts.
Once Collor was elected, PC Farias masterminded the vast corruption scheme that rendered Collor's presidency a high-priced toll booth for government favors. He set up dummy companies to collect bribes, with 30 percent of the money going to him and 70 percent to Collor.
[ Politics, Passion and Graft at Issue in Rio Slayings]
The New York Times, June 28, 1996 As much as US $9 million went to PC's accounts between 1990 and 1992. As the corruption scandal emerged in 1992, it was revealed that a fraction of money from PC's businesses was sent directly to Collor to finance the president's personal expenditures, including household staff and extensive landscaping at his home in
Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
.
After Collor's impeachment, PC fled to the
UK and
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, where he was arrested by the
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
and extradited back to Brazil. In 1994, he was condemned to 7 years in
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
. He was released in December 1995 after being pardoned by Brazilian president
Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
Murder
In 1996, PC and his young girlfriend
Suzana Marcolino were found both dead, shot by a .38 Special caliber Rossi revolver in PC's beach house in
Maceió
Maceió (), formerly sometimes Anglicised as Maceio, is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. The name "Maceió" is an Indigenous term for a spring. Most maceiós flow to the sea, but some get trapped and form la ...
. Local police ascribed the deaths to a crime of passion, where Suzana, fearing the imminent dissolution of the relationship, shot PC and then herself. Others would claim it was a form of "destruction of evidence" over what PC may know and subsequently reveal. In 1999, both their bodies were exhumed and subjected to another round of forensic examinations by three separate experts from three different institutions. Their conclusions were that while there was not enough evidence to rule out suicide, there was evidence to suggest it was not a suicide.
[Caso PC Farias]
/ref> Subsequently PC Farias' brother, Augusto Farias
Augusto Farias is a Brazilian politician from the state of Alagoas. He is a brother of the murdered businessman Paulo Cesar Farias, who was the campaign treasurer of Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello
Fernando Affonso Collor de Mel ...
, and eight others were charged with the murder.[New twist in Brazil murder case]
BBC News, November 18, 1999
Four former police officers who were working as PC's bodyguards were put on trial for failing to prevent the killing, the jury found the four men not guilty. The jurors also ruled that the death was a double homicide.
See also
* List of unsolved murders
References
External links
Caso PC Farias
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farias, Paulo Cesar
1945 births
1996 deaths
Brazilian criminals
Brazilian escapees
Brazilian murder victims
Brazilian politicians
Brazilian prisoners and detainees
Deaths by firearm in Brazil
Fugitives
Male murder victims
Murdered criminals
People murdered in Brazil
Prisoners and detainees of Brazil
Unsolved murders in Brazil