Analysis: Bolsonaro’s New Supporters Accumulate Court Cases Alleging Corruption

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The main leaders of the Centrão, the newest support group for Jair Bolsonaro in Congress, share a common denominator, aside from their recent interest in backing the government. They feature on a list of investigations and accusations of embezzlement, part of the Lava Jato and JBS scandals.

As well as being the objects of reports by whistleblowers in these cases, some have been targets of office searches and have had assets and salaries frozen.

These politicians are part of the Centrão, the group of parties that has some 200 of the 513 federal deputies, that has recently become not only the support base for Bolsonaro’s bills in Congress but also the obstacle to any impeachment of the President.

On September 1st, these leaders took part, alongside Bolsonaro, in the announcement of the emergency aid extension granted to casual workers.

Alongside Minister of Citizenship Onyx Lorenzoni and Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, those present included Senate leader Fernando Bezerra Coelho (MDB – Brazilian Democratic Movement); the national president of the PP (Progressives), Senator Ciro Nogueira; the leader of the PP in the Chamber, Deputy Arthur Lira, who acts as informal commander of the Bolsonarist troops in Congress; and the leader of the government bloc in the Chamber, Ricardo Barros (PP).

Bezerra Coelho bears a diversified investigation record. As a result of a lawsuit in the Federal Supreme Court regarding the investigation of embezzlement in the construction of the São Francisco River transposition, Bezerra was already the target of a search and seizure warrant in the Senate authorized by the STF (Federal Supreme Court) in 2019.

The senator has also been named in three major denunciations involving recent bribery scandals by Odebrecht, Galvão Engineering and OAS. In these cases he is accused by whistleblowers of receiving kickbacks to enable works – among them those combatting the effects of drought.

In a misconduct lawsuit lodged by Lava Jato and Petrobras in Paraná, he was the target of a ruling to freeze his assets, jointly with the estate of the ex-governor of Pernambuco Eduardo Campos in the amount of R$258.7 million. This year, the courts also ordered a freeze of ten percent of his salary to indemnify the Treasury.

Along with Eduardo Gomes, Bezerra is the main name for the government’s political coordination in the Senate. The agreement to veto only three provisions in the sanitation framework – and which was breached by Bolsonaro, annoying the senators – passed through his hands, for instance.

The other three strong names of Bolsonaro’s base who are or have been targets of investigations share the same party: the PP.

Ciro Nogueira, the party’s national president, was denounced earlier this year by the Prosecutor General’s Office, which reported on a transfer of R$7.3 million in Odebrecht kickbacks in exchange for the approval of measures favorable to Braskem, the petrochemical group’s subsidiary.

The accusation is coupled with two other charges the legislator is facing, also at the STF: a 2018 indictment for attempting to obstruct Lava Jato’s investigations, and the accusation of creating, along with other party politicians, the so-called “PP quadrillion,” a group of party leaders that supposedly united to divert Petrobras resources.

This accusation was accepted by the Supreme Court over a year ago, but the legal proceedings have not yet been opened.

Nogueira is also under investigation at the STF under suspicion of receiving kickbacks from JBS, the meatpacking giant that in 2017 shook the national political scene by reporting kickbacks to nearly 2,000 politicians in the country. Nogueira was listed in Joesley and Wesley Batista’s spreadsheet for contributions made to political campaigns through slush funds.

The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) recently recommended the dismissal of a denunciation against the president of the PP – it had charged him with receiving a R$1.6 million kickback from Petrobras through a contract with the Queiroz Galvão group, between 2011 and 2012.

The two government leaders in the Chamber – the official one, Ricardo Barros, and the informal one, Arthur Lira – were also targets of denunciations and investigations for corruption.

Barros has already been mentioned in Odebrecht denunciation and was the target of at least 12 inquiries at the STF involving his management at the head of Maringá City Hall (1989-1993) and the Ministry of Health (2016-2018). He also had his mandate temporarily revoked by the state’s TRE (Regional Electoral Court) on a vote-buying charge, but the conviction was overturned.

Barros took over the leadership of the government in the Chamber to replace Bolsonaro’s loyal ally, Deputy Vitor Hugo (PSL-Social Liberal Party), who was removed from the position due to the President’s need to show goodwill with the Centrão, a block led by PP.

Arthur Lira, who hopes to have Bolsonaro’s support in a potential February candidacy for the Chamber presidency, has his name shrouded in suspicion since he was a state legislator in Alagoas, at the time of the scandal of embezzlement of funds from the Legislative Assembly through ghost employees and other devices.

In the STF, Lira is the target of three indictments by the PGR, the last of which on charges of receiving R$1.6 million in kickbacks from Queiroz Galvão in exchange for the PP’s support for Paulo Roberto Costa remaining as director of Petrobras – the same for which the PGR recommended dismissing the Ciro Nogueira case.

Two other denunciations by the PGR against the legislator, in the scope of Lava Jato, were rejected by the STF 2nd Panel – one in which he was accused in a denunciation by the UTC of receiving, together with his father, the ex-senator Benedito de Lira, R$2.6 million in kickbacks, and another in which he was named, along with other PP politicians, as the beneficiary of kickbacks related to Petrobras’ Supply Board contracts.

In addition to the STF, the legislator was charged by the Prosecutor’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office and Petrobras in Paraná, in misconduct suits against him and other politicians. One of them resulted in an order to freeze his assets in the amount of up to R$7.77 million and a blocking of ten percent of his salary as a deputy (which is R$33,700).

The other side

Arthur Lira’s defense counsel states that the denunciations that still persist against the legislator are based only on a whistleblower’s denunciations, with no evidence to support them. “Particularly with regard to the allegations of Alberto Youssef [Black-market banker, one of Lava Jato’s main whistleblowers], he always clearly tries to implicate both the president of the party and the leader in his denunciations, and this is proving to be unfounded.”

About the decision that resulted in the freezing of Lira’s assets and salary, the deputy’s advisor says there has already been an appeal, with a decision in his favor. Folha could not find this decision in the records released by the courts of Paraná.

Senator Fernando Bezerra Coelho’s defense states that he “never requested, received or demanded any undue advantage.” Further, “the suspicion of receiving a contractor’s kickback between 2012 and 2014 is utterly untrue and has no viability to prosper because it is based solely and exclusively on the words of wistleblowers, which is forbidden by law.”

According to his counsel, “the facts allegedly recounted by the whistleblowers mentioned in the report, all lacking corroborating data, will have a dismissal as their natural course, as occurred with Inquiry 4005 [alleged corruption in the works of the Abreu e Lima refinery], rejected by the STF.”

Also according to the defense, “the senator continues to trust the legal institutions and the current criminal code, which prohibits abusive practices of filing criminal actions with no evidence.”

Deputy Ricardo Barros’ press advisor stated that, regarding the inquiries at the STF involving the Ministry of Health and the Municipality of Maringá, the deputy’s administration “was marked by efficiency, disruptivity and the courage to confront monopolies and interests” and that all actions were being “successfully addressed in the courts”.

According to the advisor, in the case of the Ministry of Health, “the accusations ignore that the specific actions resulted [in] R$5 billion in savings in 600 days of administration, amounts that were reinvested in healthcare for the population.”

Concerning Odebrecht’s denunciation, the advisor said that Barros did not receive any donation, official or unofficial, from the contractor. About the case of the Paraná TRE, the advisor emphasized that the TRE itself unanimously annulled the trial and that Barros only “participated, as a guest, in a birthday dinner,” staying less than an hour at the event.

Ciro Nogueira did not comment.

Source: Folha