Corruption

Built on Sand

Brazil's latest national villain is called Sérgio Naya, 55. The wealthy, silver-haired congressman from the state of Minas Gerais, has been expelled from his party, the PPB (Partido Progressista Brasileiro—Brazilian Progressive Party), and his colleagues are considering his impeachment since the 22-story apartment building Palace II in the upscale neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca in Rio collapsed on February 21, killing eight people and throwing 120 families on the streets. Naya is the owner of Sersan (Sociedade Empresas Reunidas Sérgio Augusto Naya), the company responsible for the edifice's construction.

Since the Palace II tragedy, much fraud was found on the résumé of the middle-class Armenian immigrant's son, who went to Brasília, the Brazilian capital, at the end of the `60s and became a construction tycoon, helped by high-ranking officials during the military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985. According to his own account—Naya loves to brag— he has a $500-million fortune. His secret? "To mix economy with deception," he confided to a friend, adding: "The US is the country of opportunities, and Brazil is the country of deception."

Extra-generous with big-shot friends whom he flies on his private $15-million Challenger jet and treats to $300 Cristal Rosé champagne, he compelled his employees to unbend nails used in a hotel construction to reutilize them on an apartment building being erected in Osasco, São Paulo. Worried with kidnappings, he is always followed by bodyguards and often carries his own machine gun. Single all his life; he is frequently accompanied by beautiful women, but rumor has it that he never stays more than one year with any one of them so they will not claim any of his fortune. He is also a very bad payer. Only in Brasília there are more than 800 lawsuits against his companies. The government is his biggest creditor. He owes $48 million in a number of administrative actions filed against him, $14 million to Banco do Brasil and another $8 million to the INSS, the Brazilian Social Security service.

It took a tragedy for the inspectors to find out that Naya's company had mixed beach sand with concrete in Rio. Seashells were found mixed with the concrete. They also found several other irregularities. Sersan used rainwater taken from puddles on the beach and cement that was already too old for use. Naya protests innocence and accuses his opponents of trying to subject him to a public lynching.

In a videotape shown on TV Globo's Sunday show Fantástico, Naya was heard bragging about forging official documents and using low-grade building materials on his building projects, which were later offered for sale as first-rate constructions. In the tape shot four years ago Naya talks to a group of councilmen from the city of Três Pontas in Minas Gerais. "Everything I buy is used, but it looks like new" he says, adding: "I signed an order for the government, I really do falsify. I gave the order to the Mayor, and he believed it was from the Governor."

The outrage against Naya has almost obscured the most important issue, which is Brazil's lack of rules and enforcement of an adequate building code. Critics of the status quo have pointed that without a serious revamping of the system, buildings will continue falling and people will continue dying. In the last seven years at least another six buildings collapsed in the country. In 1991, nine people died and 23 were hurt when a building toppled in Volta Redonda, state of Rio de Janeiro. The next year a concrete block fell over a crowd in the Pelourinho Square in Salvador, state of Bahia, leaving 18 people hurt and eight dead. In 1994, a two-story building being erected in São Paulo went down killing three and hurting 14. Then in Guaratuba, Paraná, a six-story building collapsed killing 40 people and hurting nine.

The most tragic of these disasters was a totally preventable explosion occurred in 1996 in the restaurant area of Osasco Plaza Shopping, in São Paulo. Forty two people died and 472 were hurt. The gas ducts in that case weren't up to code and there was no inspection to compel the owners to correct the problem. Last year, a 17-story building collapsed in São José do Rio Preto, in the interior of São Paulo. There were no victims this time.

On the political front, there are at least 44 congressmen being investigated, including Senator Ronaldo Cunha Lima, who shot an opponent in 1993 after his colleague criticized him on TV. For the record, Naya is building two $30 million 18-story hotel towers in Orlando, Florida. Construction has been delayed and stopped several times due to problems found by city building inspectors.