Cássio Taniguchi (born 31 October 1940) is a Brazilian electrical engineer and politician. He was the mayor of

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Southern Brazil. The city's population was 1,773,718 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the larg ...

from 1997 to 2005, and later became a federal deputy for the state of

Paraná Paraná, Paranã or Parana may refer to: Geology * Paraná Basin, a sedimentary basin in South America Places In Argentina *Paraná, Entre Ríos, a city * Paraná Department, a part of Entre Ríos Province In Brazil *Paraná (state), a state ...

from 2007 to 2011. He is currently a member of

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(PSD).

Biography

Cássio Taniguchi was born in

Paraguaçu Paulista Paraguaçu Paulista is a municipality in south-west of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Microregion of Assis, situated in the middle Paranapanema Valley. The population is 45,945 (2020 est.) in an area of 1001.3 km2. It' ...

to Masaji Taniguchi and Masako Taniguchi. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the

Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica The ''Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica'' (ITA; ) is an institution of higher education maintained by the Brazilian Air Force and is located in São José dos Campos, Brazil. ITA is consistently ranked as one of the top engineering school ...

in 1964. He presided over the public-private development partnership URBS, which oversees the public transit system in Curitiba, from 1972 to 1975. During this time he helped to implement the Curitiba Master Plan devised by then-mayor

Jaime Lerner Jaime Lerner (17 December 1937 – 27 May 2021) was a Brazilian politician. He was the governor of the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil. He is renowned as an architect and urban planner, having been mayor of Curitiba, capital of Paraná, th ...

. He also headed the Institute of Research and Planning of Curitiba from 1980 to 1983 and again from 1989 to 1994. He was the state secretary of Planning and General Coordination, as well as state secretary of Industry and Commerce for the state of Paraná, under now-governor Lerner from 1995 to 1996. He took this position during a time of change for the economic profile of Paraná, as the state began to shift towards attracting and fostering an automobile manufacturing industry (such as with carmakers

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

and

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

). Taniguchi was the mayor of Curitiba from 1997 to 2004, with two mandates. He beat state deputy during his reelection campaign. In 2007, he became a federal deputy for the state of Paraná. During his time there, he introduced laws to offer incentives to cities to improve urban spaces in terms of reducing carbon emissions and promoting environmental friendliness, in order to combat global warming. After he assumed office, he became the secretary of Urban Development and the Environment for the

Federal District A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or the ...

. In January 2011, he became secretary of Planning of Paraná under governor

Beto Richa Carlos Alberto "Beto" Richa (born June 29, 1965) is a Brazilian engineer and politician. He was the Governor of the Brazilian state of Paraná until April 6, 2018, when he resigned to run for a seat at the Brazilian Senate. He was succeeded by Cid ...

. During his time as mayor, in 2000, then-president

Fernando Henrique Cardoso Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazi ...

awarded Taniguchi the Commander class of the Order of Military Merit by decree. In 2010, Taniguchi was sentenced to 6 months in prison, being accused of embezzling money as mayor from an agreement between the government of Curitiba and the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

. He was alleged to have used part of the funds to pay towards part of a will that was not in the provisions of the agreement. Taniguchi, however, was let go after confirmation by the

Supreme Federal Court The Federal Supreme Court (, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the country's Constitutional Court. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for constitutional issues and its rulings ...

due to the length of the sentence already having been determined. Taniguchi is currently a consultant for the

United Nations Institute for Training and Research The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is a dedicated training arm of the United Nations system. UNITAR provides training and capacity development activities to assist mainly developing countries with special attention ...

and is president of the Paraná branch of the Tancredo Neves Institute.

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taniguchi, Cassio 1940 births Living people Brazilian politicians of Japanese descent Brazilian electrical engineers People from Paraguaçu Paulista Mayors of Curitiba Politicians from Curitiba Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Paraná Democratic Labour Party (Brazil) politicians Democrats (Brazil) politicians Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 2011) politicians Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (Brazil) Brazilian politicians convicted of corruption