The Intercept: Flávio Bolsonaro’s “Splitting” Scheme Allegedly Funded Militia Buildings in Rio

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of President Jair Bolsonaro, financed the construction of militia-controlled buildings in Rio de Janeiro favelas with public money and profited from an illegal scheme, according to accusations made by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) in Rio.

On Saturday, The Intercept website published confidential documents and data to which it had access, showing that the housing projects of three building companies (São Felipe Construção Civil Eireli, São Jorge Construção Civil Eireli, and ConstruRioMZ) in the Rio das Pedras favela were built with “split money,” salary kickbacks collected in the former office of Flávio Bolsonaro in the Legislative Assembly of Rio (ALERJ).

The MPF came to this conclusion after cross-referencing bank details of 86 people suspected of involvement in the illegal scheme.

According to allegations made by investigators who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity, Flávio Bolsonaro received the profit from the buildings’ investment through transfers by former BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) Captain Adriano da Nóbrega -executed in February in Bahia- and former staff advisor Fabrício Queiroz.

The course of these investigations closing in on the President’s son may have been one of the reasons that led Bolsonaro last year to pressure then Justice Minister Sérgio Moro for the change of command of the Federal Police (PF) in Rio, which is also investigating the case, and in Brasília.

Moro resigned on Friday from his position as Minister of Justice and Public Safety, accusing the President of interfering politically in the PF investigations. Bolsonaro denied the accusation, but said he intends to appoint someone to the post “with whom he can interact”.

According to The Intercept, Flávio would pay his staff’s salaries from his ALERJ office funds, and Queiroz – found to be the articulator of the “splitting” kickback scheme – would commandeer some 40 percent of the staff salaries, and transfer part of those funds to BOPE Captain Adriano, known as the head of the “Crime Bureau”, a powerful militia faction specializing in hired killings.

The criminal organization, which, in addition to Rios das Pedras, also operates in Muzema, collects “security fees,” a surcharge on the sale of gas cylinders, water bottles, exploitation of clandestine TV channels, land grabbing and building construction in the two favelas, which are both located in Jacarepaguá (west zone of Rio) and where more than 80,000 people live. The region has seen a boom in irregular building in recent years; in April 2019, two apartment buildings collapsed, leaving 24 dead and ten injured.

Investigations point out that the profit from the construction and sales of such buildings would be shared with Flávio Bolsonaro, as he was the financier behind the scheme, using public money.

According to the MPF, the “splitting” transfers to Captain Adriano were made through bank accounts of his mother Raimunda Vera Magalhães, and his wife Danielle da Costa Nóbrega. Both had formal staff positions in the deputy’s office at ALERJ between 2016 and 2017 and were appointed by Queiroz, the deputy’s chief of staff.

Adriano’s mother and wife handled at least R$1.1 million (US$275.000) over that period and are alleged to have transferred money to a number of companies, including two restaurants, a building materials store and three small building companies, which were registered under “strawmen” who were members of the Crime Bureau.

Source: El País