Breach of Flávio Bolsonaro’s Banking and Tax Secrecy Upheld by Rio Appellate Court

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Appellate Court of Rio de Janeiro, by a 2 to 1 decision, has upheld the breach of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s fiscal and banking secrecy. One of the petitions for habeas corpus lodged by the politician’s defense counsel was heard on Tuesday, February 4th.

Exactly a week before, the rapporteur of the three-judge panel voted to overturn the breach and restore secrecy, but the session was then suspended, as the remaining two judges on the panel requested additional time to decide how they would vote.

As the newspaper O Globo reported, on Tuesday the 3rd Criminal Panel of the Appellate Court resumed the hearing and ended with a 2 to 1 vote in favor of breaching the secrecy. The votes of Judges Monica Tolledo Oliveira and Suimei Meira Cavalieri determined the outcome.

According to the rapporteur judge, whose vote was overturned, before the request for breach of secrecy brought by the Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office (MPRJ), Flávio Bolsonaro should have been heard or summoned to testify, based on the constitutional principle guaranteeing adversary proceedings – which, according to the judge, did not occur. The other two judges on the panel disagreed with this conclusion.

The senator’s defense sought to nullify the sharing of the Financial Activities Control Council (COAF) report with the MPRJ, as it contained confidential information on the defendant’s financial transactions.

Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office’s investigations into suspicious bank transactions by 74 ALERJ former employees began in July 2018. Among the transactions deemed atypical were operations carried out on the bank account of Fabrício Queiroz, who was Flávio’s advisor when he was a state deputy in Rio.

The case remained inactive from July to November 2019, until the Supreme Court’s decision affirming the legality of COAF information being shared with the Prosecutor’s Office.

What the defense claims

Attorney Frederick Wassef, representing the senator, claimed after the first session that he could not talk about the merits of the case because the record of the proceedings is under judicial seal and remains confidential.

But, on that occasion, he stated that, “from what has already become public,” “the repeated arbitrariness committed against my client, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, is evident”. Defense counsel has not yet released a comment on the decision taken this Tuesday.

Investigation

Flávio Bolsonaro, one of President Jair Bolsonaro’s sons, is under investigation for suspicion of setting up a “splitting” scheme when he was a Rio state deputy.

The practice of the so-called “splitting” occurs when a deputy demands a kickback of part of the salaries from his office staff. Flávio Bolsonaro’s defense counsel denies that he set up such a scheme.

Rio’s Prosecutor’s Office found, during its investigations, that Flávio’s ALERJ office staff handed over nearly R$2 million to the deputy’s chief advisor, Fabrício Queiroz, who also carried out unusually frequent cash withdrawals and deposits.

The investigators suspect the employees were forced to return part of their salaries to the then state deputy Flávio Bolsonaro.

The Federal Supreme Court (STF) is also processing a petition from Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s defense to suspend the investigation entirely. The motion was filed shortly after the MP’s search and seizure of the addresses of the senator, Fabrício Queiroz, and relatives of President Bolsonaro.