Prosecutor clears Tarcísio but says police contact with Haddad’s driver was no ‘coincidence’

São Paulo’s regional electoral prosecutor cleared Governor Tarcísio de Freitas of an alleged electoral crime, but did not dismiss concerns about how military police vehicles encountered a car used by Fernando Haddad’s campaign.

The investigation began after Haddad’s driver reported being followed by police while leaving the candidate’s home in the Planalto Paulista area of São Paulo on Aug. 11. The Workers’ Party campaign sought an inquiry into possible abuse of power and abuse of authority.

The prosecutor said two tactical vehicles crossed paths with the candidate’s car within 44 minutes and across a “narrow geographic area”. That pattern, the decision said, could not be treated as “mere coincidence”. Images and a forensic report submitted by Haddad contradicted the official account by indicating that a police vehicle stopped near the car. São Paulo’s Public Security Secretariat denies that officers pursued the driver.

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mere coincidence

Because the electoral prosecutor’s authority is limited to electoral matters, the office sent a copy of the investigation to the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office for any action it considers appropriate. A Civil Police inquiry into the case is also open.

The prosecutor said the unusual involvement of two tactical units in such a short period weakened the police force’s explanation that the encounters were regular and coincidental. Other images obtained by Estadão showed that the Ford Fusion was not followed closely by a police vehicle for at least part of the route to a hotel on Rua Joinville, 4.3 kilometers away. The São Paulo government had not commented when the report was published.

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The exceptional nature of this double tactical engagement, in such a short period and with units that do not conduct ordinary 190 patrols, seriously weakens the theory of regularity and administrative coincidence put forward by the police force.