Notary offices seek to scrap seal system that could benefit STJ minister’s wife’s business partner

At least eight associations representing Brazil’s notary and registry offices are asking the National Justice Council’s oversight body to cancel a new national authentication system that could cost the sector an estimated 2 billion reais.

The system was proposed in August by Mauro Campbell Marques, then national justice inspector and now vice president of the Superior Court of Justice. Its stated purpose is to strengthen legal certainty and prevent fraud and illegal land appropriation. But the project has drawn attention because Campbell’s wife, Lúcia Clara, has business ties with an entrepreneur identified as helping lead its implementation through Newtech S.A.

Campbell told Estadão that he saw no conflict of interest. He said the National Justice Council “did not indicate Newtech S.A., did not hire it and did not conduct a company-selection procedure for the implementation of the National Seal Validator.”

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The National Justice Council did not indicate Newtech S.A., did not hire it and did not conduct a company-selection procedure for the implementation of the National Seal Validator.

Newtech was established one month before the rule creating the validator. Its founder, Fredson Andrade da Encarnação, is a partner of Campbell’s wife in another company based in Manaus. A decision last Friday by Campbell’s successor, national justice inspector Benedito Gonçalves, said Newtech had been presented by the National Confederation of Notaries and Registrars at the request of the Amazonas association.

Campbell said, “Newtech was presented as a technically capable company to demonstrate a possible solution for the Validator. That did not mean hiring, a commitment to hire or a definitive choice of supplier by anyone.” The planned system would give every seal a unique 20-digit National Seal Validation Code linked to the state seal. Citizens would be able to check authenticity free of charge using the code, an access key or a QR code. The notary offices themselves would finance the system through a charge on each transaction.

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Newtech was presented as a technically capable company to demonstrate a possible solution for the Validator. That did not mean hiring, a commitment to hire or a definitive choice of supplier by anyone.