Findings Debunk Bolsonaro Family’s Attempt to Disprove Federal Police Leak

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Retired State Police officer Fabrício Queiroz, a friend of Jair Bolsonaro and former advisor to today’s Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, was the target of an investigation by the Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office at the time he was dismissed from the former office of the President’s son in the Rio Legislative Assembly in October 2018.

At that time, a report by the COAF (federal financial intelligence body) that pointed to Queiroz’s inconsistent transfer of funds was held by the Federal Police, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office (MP-RJ).

At the Federal Police (PF), his name featured in an inquiry into the payment of a bribe by ex-governor Sérgio Cabral to deputies in the Rio Assembly. The investigation resulted in Operation ‘Furna da Onça,’ which was launched in November 2018. Flávio and Queiroz were not suspects in this case. In the MP-RJ, the retired State Police officer was under investigation for a salary kickback scheme in Flávio’s office.

These investigations and the federal report help debunk the version presented by the Bolsonaro family after entrepreneur Paulo Marinho, Flávio’s alternate in the Senate, told Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that the senator was tipped off by a PF delegate about Queiroz’s inclusion in the COAF report. Flávio dismissed his aide on October 15th, 2018, after receiving the tip.

According to Marinho, “The detective said: ‘Operation Furna da Onça will be launched, which will hit the Rio Legislative Assembly head-on. And this operation will target some people in Flávio’s office [who was a state deputy at the time]. One of them is Queiroz, and the other is Queiroz’s [Nathalia’s] daughter, who works in Jair Bolsonaro’s [who was still a federal deputy] in Brasília.”

The senator denies having been briefed and points to the fact that federal judge Abel Gomes, the rapporteur for Furna da Onça, claims neither he nor Queiroz were targets of the operation. Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, his brother, uses a similar argument to refute Marinho’s accusations. Flávio said on his social media: “Neither I nor my former advisor were targets of the Federal Police operation called Furna da Onça. But, according to my deputy Paulo Marinho (now Doria’s acknowledged representative in Rio), I would have been told that the Federal Police was investigating my former advisor”.

The COAF report on advisors to ALERJ deputies was freely released to different investigative bodies, including the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) and the MP-RJ. Within the MPF, it became a consultation document to further clarify information that the prosecutors already had about the payment of bribes to deputies. Therefore, it was appended to the inquiry in its entirety, even if it contained data on other deputies. In addition to Flávio, there are 15 other deputies mentioned in the report who were not targeted by Furna da Onça.

The document became a formal investigation on July 31st, 2018, by the MP-RJ. After the operation was launched, defense attorneys could access the document and see Queiroz’s inclusion. The deputies’ arrest was warranted by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office on October 16th, 2018, one day after Queiroz’s dismissal.

On October 25th, in a secret session, the members of the 1st Panel of the Federal Regional Court-2 (TRF-2) granted the Office of the Prosecutor General the preventive measures it had sought. The arrest warrants were issued on October 31st, two days after the second round Presidential election that sealed Bolsonaro’s victory. The operation was launched on November 8th. The COAF report was added to the confidential proceedings that only attorneys of those under investigation had access.

In addition to the ten state deputies, 12 other people were arrested. The inclusion of Queiroz in the Furna da Onça report was disclosed on December 6th, 2018, by the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper. The article did not mention the existence of an investigation in the MP-RJ, which was later discovered. The detailing of the report’s section on Queiroz pointed to evidence of the practice of a “splitting” scheme in Flávio’s office. There were deposits in cash and ensuing withdrawals within days of payments at the ALERJ.

Advisors made some transfers in the President’s son’s office. The disclosure of Queiroz’s R$1.2 million (US$208,440) transactions, between January 2016 and January 2017, triggered the first attrition of Bolsonaro’s administration before it even began. Since then, it has been the President and his #1 son’s greatest headache.

This shows that the report’s mere existence, even if outside the PF’s focus, was already a potential problem for the President’s family. In the MP-RJ, the report was the foundation for the investigation that led to the breaking of banking and tax confidentiality of 103 individuals and companies, including the senator, his wife, and former advisors.

Prosecutors claim to have evidence that the senator laundered R$2.3 million through his ownership of a chocolate store and the purchase and sale of real estate. According to the prosecutor’s office, the money was the result of the collection of part of staff’s salaries, some of them ghost employees. Queiroz was said to be the operator of the kickback practice known as “splitting.” Since the time Furna da Onça was launched, there has been suspicion of a leak.

Some of the targets were found to have no computer at home, and the history of message apps completely cleared. The evidence was used by the prosecutor’s office to convert the temporary arrest into the preventive custody of ten suspects, including six state deputies.

Federal Judge Abel Gomes agreed with the PF and Regional Prosecutor’s Office’s assessment that the scene found by agents at the time of the suspects’ arrest points to a leak in the operation.

The PF claims to have investigated the case and found no leaks by members of the force; however, the PF now says that, following Marinho’s report, a new inquiry would be launched. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has also opened proceedings to examine the case.

Source: Folhapress