Rio Social Welfare Corruption Scheme Allegedly Had Cristiane Brasil as ‘Fairy Godmother’

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – To determine the opening of the second phase of Operation Catarata and have five people arrested, among them the ex-deputy and candidate for mayor Cristiane Brasil, and the State Secretary of Education Pedro Fernandes, Judge Ana Helena Mota Lima Valle, of the 26th Criminal Court took into consideration the details of the charges made by the State Prosecutor’s Office, such as the great influence that the former secretaries held, such that they received kickbacks, even without holding strategic positions in the government to benefit the criminal organization.

According to the Prosecutor General, Cristiane Brasil was the fairy godmother of a company that won the targeted bids. Pedro Fernandes, on the other hand, was regarded as the boss by other members of the scheme under investigation. In addition to them, the Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office classified entrepreneur Marcus Vinicius Azevedo da Silva – simultaneously an employee in the cabinet of the acting governor Claudio Castro at the time he was a city councilor and partner of companies linked to the scheme that defrauded almost R$120 million.

“Public order must be protected by interrupting criminal practices. The State of Rio de Janeiro has been the protagonist of mismanagement and negligence, and the accused have not shown any fear in the practice of illegal activities; on the contrary, the evidence is that they believe in impunity. The crimes under investigation are serious, the misappropriation of public funds for one’s personal benefit and that of others, although not committed with threat or violence to the person, affects the entire population: the portion that manages to pay its taxes, which is increasingly burdened, and the portion that struggles to survive, to have health, education, food. It is clear that Rio de Janeiro society is calling for an immediate reaction from the Constituent Powers and, in this case, the social environment and the very credibility of justice must be taken into account in the face of the seriousness of the crimes under investigation,” wrote Ana Helena when she decreed the Preventive Measures for Catarata 2.

The decisions targeted Cristiane Brasil, Pedro Fernandes, entrepreneur Flavio Salomão Chadud, his father, PCERJ delegate Mario Jamil Chadud, and the ex-director of financial administration (DAF) of the Leo XIII Foundation, João Marcos Borges Mattos.

In the same decision in which she ordered the opening of Catarata 2, Ana Helena accepted the State Prosecutor’s Office’s charges against 25 people – among the targets of the offensive and others under investigation – for crimes of criminal organization, bidding fraud, embezzlement, active and passive corruption, money laundering and hindrance to investigation. Among those accused are the ex-presidents of the Leo XIII Foundation Sergio Fernandes and Erika Yukiko Muraoka, Rio Mix partner Marcus Vinicius Azevedo da Silva, as well as public servants and representatives of companies and social organizations.

The magistrate stated that the complaint is thorough and exhaustive in explaining the facts. “The evidence in the file is appalling regarding the ‘pandemic’ corruption that plagues the state of Rio de Janeiro on several fronts,” she said.

The Prosecution pointed out that the criminal organization was made up of three nuclei – business, political and administrative – and engaged in directing bids aimed at fraudulent hiring of the companies Servlog Rio and Rio Mix 10, controlled by Flavio Salomão Chadud and Marcus Vinicius Azevedo da Silva.

To this end, the group allegedly paid kickbacks to civil servants and political officials who were responsible for the Municipal Secretariats and the Leo XIII State Foundation. The amounts were delivered in cash at the Downtown Shopping Mall in Barra da Tijuca, a place designated by the prosecution as the criminal organization’s headquarters.

The criminal organization’s political nucleus consisted of Cristiane Brasil, Pedro Fernandes, Sergio Fernandes and João Marcos Borges Mattos, according to the Rio MP. The group was responsible for enabling frauds in their respective portfolios and extending fraudulent contracts by receiving kickbacks, which varied from five to 25 percent of the amount paid for the contract.

The MP further pointed out that two other indicted individuals were responsible for receiving the illegal amounts payable to the daughter of ex-deputy Roberto Jefferson. “There are reports of payment in euros received by the accused,” records the Catarata 2 decision.

“It appears that the accused Pedro Fernandes and Cristiane Brasil, through political coordinations, have implemented and managed a real criminal scheme, with the support of entrepreneurs, advisors, administrators and staff who, in exchange for a job or function with pay and bonuses, fueled the misappropriation of public funds for low-income individuals and the elderly. The alleged OCRIM would have originated in 2013 under the Municipal Secretary of Healthy Aging and Quality of Life of Rio de Janeiro, under the influence of the then city councilor and Secretary Cristiane Brasil,” Ana Helena records in her ruling.

The magistrate also noted the criminal organization’s influence, stating that in the first phase of Operation Catarata in July 2019, deputy Mario Jamil Chadud visited the headquarters of Servlog Rio, in Downtown Shopping Mall and removed a number of documents, computers, money in kind, seeking to obstruct the investigation. According to Ana Helena’s ruling, this removal took place an hour before the police arrived at the site, and the operation was delayed for the same period, with evidence that there was a leak of information.

What the Rio de Janeiro Secretary of Education said

“Pedro Fernandes was outraged by the arrest order. His attorney had been asking for access to the case file since late July, but was unable to get it. The defense made Pedro available to the authorities for clarification at the time. However, Pedro was never heard and only learned by the press that he was being investigated for something he is still unsure of. Pedro trusts that everything will be clarified as soon as possible and his innocence proved.”

What ex-deputy Cristiane Brasil said

“They had eight years to investigate this unfounded accusation, made in 2012 against me, and they didn’t do it because they didn’t want to. But now that I am a pre-candidate for Mayor they emerge, in a clear attempt to politically persecute me and my father. In less than a week, Eduardo Paes, Crivella and I became targets. All it takes is an ounce of rationality to see that the search against me is disproportionate. It must have the influence of candidate Martha Rocha, Cowitzel and André Ceciliano. Vengeance and politics are not the role of the Prosecutor’s Office or the Civil Police.”