RIO DE JANEIRO BRAZIL – The money hidden in Senator Chico Rodrigues (DEM-RR) underpants was found on Wednesday, October 14th, by the Federal Police after he asked to go to the restroom and the arresting detective noticed a “strange volume in the back of his clothes”.
His arrest was part of an operation triggered to fight an alleged criminal scheme of embezzlement of public funds to tackle the coronavirus in the northern state of Roraima. In a statement released on Wednesday, Chico Rodrigues – who until then was a deputy leader of the Bolsonaro administration in the Senate – said he is not involved in any illegal activity.
Details of the seizure of R$33,150 (US$6,000) in the deputy’s private parts are included in the decision of Supreme Court (STF) Chief Justice Luis Roberto Barroso, who on Thursday ordered the senator to be removed from ofice for 90 days due to the “specific severity” of the case. The police officers’ find was recorded on videos.
Barroso also ordered the lifting of confidentiality of part of the investigations, but maintained it for videos of the searches. The Justice ordered that one of these records “should be kept in the safe of the Federal Police, in complete secrecy,” because “it shows the target of the investigation’s intimacy too much and does not produce a significant addition to the investigation.”
“If proven guilty, his punishment will be justified, but not his unnecessary public humiliation,” Barroso said.
According to the Federal Police (PF) report, Rodrigues was wearing blue pajama shorts and a yellow shirt when the police officers in Operation ‘Desvid-19’ entered his home. The bundles of money hidden in his underpants were seized in three situations that occurred in succession. The report quotes that the senator “insistently hid valuables in his underwear”.
According to the report, the senator asked to go to the restroom after his son’s room was searched. The detective authorized it, but said he would escort him. “At this time, Detective Wedson realized that there was a large volume, in a rectangular shape, on the back of the senator’s clothing,” the report said.
Suspicious of the volume that “completely differed from the pajamas worn by the senator,” the delegate conducted a body search and found R$15,000. The amount was “inside his underwear, close to his buttocks”.
In the living room of the house, the senator was asked three times if there were still more cash amounts. In the last of these questions, with considerable irritation, Chico Rodrigues “stuck his hand in his underwear, and drew other bundle of money” which totaled R$17,900. The other R$250 were seized in the last body search.
The banknotes found with the senator had no proven lawful origin, according to the Federal Police. In addition to the amount in his underpants, R$10,000 and US$6,000 were seized in a safe in the senator’s bedroom.
The search of his residencey was accompanied by his attorney. On Thursday morning, the defense counsel said it had not yet had access to the STF proceeding.
The scheme is said to have embezzled over R$20 million
Chico Rodrigues is pointed out in the inquiry as a member of a scheme that embezzled over R$20 million in parliamentary budget riders that were earmarked for tackling Covid-19 in Roraima. The federal Comptroller General’s Office (CGU) is also involved in the investigation.
The investigation found evidence that the senator used his influence to benefit private companies directly or indirectly linked to him by embezzling money intended to fight Covid-19.
Roraima has already received approximately R$171 million in 2020 from the National Health Fund (FNS). Of this amount, R$55 million are specifically allocated to fighting Covid-19, according to the CGU.
In all, federal police officers were ordered on Wednesday to serve seven search and seizure warrants at addresses in Boa Vista, the state capital. All judicial orders were issued by the STF.
Chico Rodrigues left the Senate vice-leadership
The Federal Gazette (DOU) on Thursday published a special edition with a message from President Jair Bolsonaro to the Senate announcing the removal of Senator Chico Rodrigues as the government’s vice-leader in the House.
The senator had been in office since March 14th, 2019, when his appointment by the Presidency was published in the DOU.
Rodrigues’ permanence in office was perceived as a strain on Bolsonaro, who has been repeating in recent days that there is no corruption in his government. Recently, the President said he had “put an end” to Operation Lava Jato because there are no cases of corruption in his administration.
Bolsonaro is a friend of Rodrigues and is shown on a video which has been again posted on social media, in which he said he has an “almost stable union” with the legislator. The senator employs Leonardo de Jesus in his office in the Senate, known as Leo Indio, a cousin of Bolsonaro’s sons.
Linking the government’s vice-leader to corruption is ‘completely unrelated’ to his administration, says Bolsonaro.
President Jair Bolsonaro tried to distance himself from Senator Chico Rodrigues by stating on Thursday that the decision regarding the vice-leaders of the government in the National Congress is up to the party leaders and not to him.
“Some want to say that Roraima’s case is in my government, because he [Chico Rodrigues] is my vice-leader. Look, people, I have a total of 18 vice-leaders in Congress, 15 in the House, who were appointed by their respective party leaders, and three in the Senate. That’s by common accord, okay?” said Bolsonaro.
“This senator, in this case in Roraima, enjoyed the prestige, the affection of almost everyone. I’ve never seen anyone speak ill of him. Did this case occur? I’m sorry. Today, he was removed from the vice-leadership. Now, to want to link the fact that he is vice-leader to corruption in the government is completely unrelated”, he continued.
Bolsonaro reiterated that “there is no corruption” in the current government. However, this time the President made a caveat – and said that in the term “government” he is including only the Ministers.
“When I say ‘there is no corruption in the government,’ I repeat: there isn’t. What is the government? It’s my Ministers. If there is any wrongdoing, there will be an investigation,” the President said.
Mourão says that the vice-leader of the government is not part of the government
Vice-President Hamilton Mourão commented yesterday on the situation involving Senator Chico Rodrigues, and said that “he is not a member of the government”. Although he is not a member of the Executive branch, in truth, the legislator was Jair Bolsonaro’s vice-leader in the Federal Senate.
According to Mourão, Rodrigues was only a “government aide” not a permanent official. “All those inside Parliament who work on behalf of the government, holding vice-leadership positions and even being part of the base, are aides. He is not a member of the Executive.”
Moro says that Chico Rodrigues’ case proves that corruption is not over. Sérgio Moro, ex-Minister of Justice of Jair Bolsonaro’s government, does not believe that corruption is over in Brazil. The main evidence of this is Chico Rodrigues’ case, according to Moro.
“What this incident [with Chico Rodrigues] has taught us is that there is no such thing as ‘corruption is over’. You must have institutions that control it and, once the fact is detected, promote the accountability of the people who commit the crime,” Moro said in an interview with Rádio Gaúcha. Moro was a judge of Lava-Jato operations before his appointment as Minister of Justice.
“In recent years, we have seen great progress (in the fight against corruption) with Lava-Jato, many people have been held accountable. But today everybody is free, and some mechanisms that were designed for people to be caught, like the serving of sentences after an unsuccessful appeal, were eliminated”, declared Moro.
“I will prove my innocence”
In a note, Chico Rodrigues said on Thursday that he will attend to his defense and prove his innocence. He said that the truth “will surface”.
“I will attend to my defense, and prove my innocence. I repeat, throughout my 30 years of public service, I have dedicated my life to the people of Roraima and Brazil, and I will firmly follow the development of my nation,” said the senator.
“Believing in the truth, I am confident in justice, and I say that soon everything will be clarified and I will prove that I have nothing to do with any unlawful deed of any kind,”
One of the main allies and a friend of President Jair Bolsonaro for more than 20 years, Chico Rodrigues stated in the note that he believes in Bolsonaro’s guidelines.
“I believe in the guidelines that the great leader and President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro uses to govern our nation,” said the senator.
Source: G1, O Globo, UOL, Folhapress