Court Allows Resumption of Investigation of Flávio Bolsonaro’s Alleged Kickback Scheme

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Monday, March 23rd, the Appellate Court of Rio de Janeiro permitted the resumption of investigations into an alleged salary ‘splitting’ scheme involving Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of President Jair Bolsonaro.

With the decision, the State Prosecutor’s Office may continue its investigations into alleged embezzlement in the office of the then state deputy in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (ALERJ).

Judge Suimei Meira Cavalieri, of the 3rd Criminal Chamber of Rio’s Appellate Court, has lifted the injunction granted by the Court earlier this month at the request of Bolsonaro’s defense counsel. The appeal sought to remove the case from the jurisdicton of Judge Flávio Itabaiana Nicolau, of the 27th Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro.

According to the defense, since Flávio Bolsonaro was a state deputy at the time of the alleged crime, he should be investigated and tried before an appellate court.

Since the onset of investigations, the Bolsonaro family has criticized Judge Nicolau, who has authorized 24 search and seizure warrants, four breaches of bank confidentiality and the subpoena of 28 telephone records throughout the course of investigations.

The progress of the investigations occurred after breaches of banking and tax confidentiality concerning Flávio, his wife Fernanda, and the accounts of Bolsotini, the chocolate shop partially owned by Flávio.

In November, the Rio Prosecutor’s Office charged that Flávio’s staff boss Queiroz had received R$2 million (US$400,000) in transfers from Flavio’s employees, and that part of the money embezzled had been laundered at the Bolsotini shop.

Flávio’s breach of bank confidentiality covered transactions from January 2007 to December 2018, while the lifting of tax confidentiality occurred between 2008 and 2018. At the time of the request, the Prosecutor’s Office was investigating transactions of R$1.2 million in Queiroz’s account, detected by the Financial Activities Control Board (COAF) and disclosed by the newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo.

The judge pointed out in her ruling that the defense argument regarding the illegality of the breach of banking and tax confidentiality and the search and seizure decreed by the 27th Criminal Court judge, has already been analyzed by the Court and that the ruling was that there has been no arbitrariness in the judge’s decision.

“At the time, the Court stated that the decisions were fully substantiated and there was no arbitrariness in granting the precautionary investigative measures”.

Flávio Bolsonaro’s attorney Luciana Pires has not been located to comment on the ruling.

Source: Estadão