RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the Prosecutor’s Office, at least 13 advisors who have passed on part of their salaries to his former advisor, Fabrício Queiroz, have been identified. The Senator denies the practice of salary ‘splitting’.
A document from Rio’s state prosecutor’s office details the alleged corruption scheme involving Senator Flávio Bolsonaro when he was a state deputy. Prosecutors claim that Flávio Bolsonaro is the head of a criminal organization and have identified at least 13 advisors who have passed on part of their salaries to his former advisor, Fabrício Queiroz.
The Prosecutor’s Office says “the evidence allows one to ascertain that there was a criminal organization with a high degree of permanence and stability, between 2007 and 2018, destined for the practice of embezzlement of public money and money laundering”.
In a video published on social media on Thursday afternoon, Flávio Bolsonaro denies ‘splitting’ and money laundering. He criticized the leak of information from the case file, which runs under judicial confidentiality, denied all charges and said he was a victim of persecution.
Prosecutors say Fabrício Queiroz “collected a large part of the salaries of ghost employees of the then state deputy Flávio Bolsonaro” and that at least 13 advisors who were passing on part of their salaries have been identified.
Queiroz received 483 deposits into his bank account, totaling in excess of R$2 million (US$500,000).
The prosecutors state that, despite what he already said, “Fabrício Queiroz did not act without the knowledge of his superiors since he himself claimed in his defense that he retained the paychecks to render accounts to third parties”.
The Prosecutor’s Office unveils an exchange of messages with one of the cabinet officials in which he writes: “You can tell me the amount that was deposited this month for me to render accounts”.
The Prosecutor’s Office says he was talking with Danielle Mendonça, Adriano Nóbrega’s ex-wife. The former BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) captain was denounced as the leader of a group of militiamen and hired hitmen known as the ‘Escritório do Crime’ (“Crime Bureau”).
The Prosecutor’s Office claims that Danielle’s appointment to Flávio’s office was made at Adriano’s request.
The investigation shows that at the end of 2017, Fabrício Queiroz showed concern about Danielle’s situation because of the 2018 elections and the concern that Flávio Bolsonaro’s increased exposure would lead the press to discover the appointment of the militia man’s wife to his office.
This is what he wrote in another message: “About your name… They don’t want to take any chances, considering they’re running and the visibility they’re getting. They’re fine-tooth combing the staff and their relatives”.
Danielle was eventually discharged and in a conversation in January, she admitted to a friend who knew about the illicit origin of the money: “I had been very upset for a long time about the origin of that money in my life. I don’t know. God must have listened”.
The prosecutors also show that the ghost employee scam was based nearly 200 kilometers from Rio’s Legislative Assembly. Ten advisors from the same family were from Resende, a city in the southern part of the state – the Siqueira family, all relatives of Ana Cristina Siqueira Valle, the ex-wife of President Jair Bolsonaro.
Together they received more than R$4.8 million in salaries from the ALERJ – 83 percent were drawn in cash.
The investigation suggests that Flávio Bolsonaro was the leader of the criminal organization and that this organization had at least four nuclei, with a clear division of tasks: who appointed, the financial operators, the people who accepted the positions in exchange for returning part of their salaries, and the nucleus that laundered money.
Prosecutors claim that by the end of 2018, in a conversation with one of the ghost employees, Queiroz was apprehensive about the investigation. He cautioned: “Be careful what you say on your cell phone.”
however, the Prosecutor’s Office suspected Queiroz believed he could keep the scam going. In another message to the cabinet official, he said, “We’ll continue together in 2019.” The advisor replied, “So be it.”
Attorney Paulo Klein said he no longer represents Fabrício Queiroz or his family, but he is convinced they are innocent of the facts investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Source: G1