Prosecutor’s Office Charges Against Rio Governor Said to Have Flaws, Shortcomings

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The referral of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) that prompted Operation Placebo against Governor Wilson Witzel, contains flaws and shortcomings in part of the suspicions raised against the governor. The main faults concern the governor’s alleged link to fraud detected in hiring social organizations to set up and manage field hospitals.

The investigation lasted only a week before the PGR ordered search and seizures to be conducted last week. In addition to the hospitals, there are suspicions regarding Witzel’s relationship with entrepreneur Mario Peixoto, arrested two weeks earlier in Operation Favorito. According to members of the investigation, new evidence – still confidential – was found during the operation.

To demonstrate Witzel’s role in the hospital frauds, the PGR points out as its main evidence a string of posts on the governor’s Twitter account and reports in which he declares the intention to build the units. “The pictures and reports above show that Wilson Witzel took the lead, was in charge of hiring and all public policy related to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, in a typical situation of control over the fact,” wrote the deputy prosecutor general Lindôra Maria Araújo.

The PGR also submitted an organizational chart of the state and the Secretariat of Health to show that the governor “maintained the command of actions”. “This hierarchy secured the chain of command and, theoretically, ‘shielded’ the governor,” Lindôra wrote.

The inquiry was opened on May 13th, after federal Deputy Otoni de Paula (PSC-RJ), a Bolsonarist who fell out with the governor, recorded a number of reports with suspicions regarding emergency hiring to fight the pandemic. At the time, the only evidence against the governor was his social media posts, as described by the PGR in its charging document. It was enough for the inquiry to be opened, authorized by Federal Superior Court (STJ)Judge Benedito Gonçalves.

The following week, new evidence reached the PGR – such as the testimony of Gabriell Neves, a former deputy Health Secretary arrested in early May on suspicion of fraud in emergency purchases. He told prosecutors at the Rio Prosecutor’s Office that he had never met with Witzel to discuss hiring details.

Neves gave former secretary Edmar Santos the orders and guidance on how to proceed to acquire the necessary equipment and beds. The document was forwarded to the PGR and is used by Lindôra to point out Edmar’s involvement in the alleged frauds. The PGR was granted authorization to wiretap phone calls throughout the investigation of Operation Favorito that reveal Mario Peixoto’s alleged operators mentioning Witzel.

The investigation also pointed out that Witzel opposed the government’s decisions by repealing the disqualification of Unir Saúde social organization, linked to the entrepreneur, according to the PGR. The Operation Favorito searches found a contract for legal services signed between the first lady’s law office and DPAD Serviços Diagnósticos (Diagnostic Services).

Investigators point out evidence that the company is part of the network of companies controlled by Peixoto. The PGR claims that DPAD is part of a consortium called ‘Mais Saúde Legal I’, which have contracts with the state. However, this consortium did not, in fact, have any agreement with the Rio de Janeiro executive branch.

Another similarly named business enterprise, called ‘Consórcio Saúde Legal I’, of which DPAD is part, operates only in the city of Petrópolis. The information that DPAD is part of a consortium hired by the state – shown on a diagram that visually links Witzel to the payment to the first lady – was added to the case file for the first time by the Rio de Janeiro Federal Police in Operation Favorito.

It was replicated by the local Prosecutor’s Office and reproduced by the PGR. The first lady’s contract with the company linked to Peixoto and the proof of payment reached the PGR on May 20th, a week after the inquiry was opened.

On that same day, the deputy prosecutor general ordered the search and seizures against Witzel. STJ Judge Gonçalves authorized the measures the next day. Witzel denies irregularities and ascribes the operation to political persecution by President Jair Bolsonaro.

Seven other governors are targets of investigations at the PGR

In a note, the PGR stated that the social media posts “correspond to only one of the many facts that corroborate the line of investigation that the authority knew and directed”. “In one of the posts there is a picture of a contract being signed with a company”. “The different indications led to the conviction that further investigations were required”, he said. The PGR says that the investigation took only a week before the search request because the evidence came from Rio de Janeiro “virtually ready”.

“In these instances, the investigation had enough time to mature and to gather evidence,” he said. Regarding the erroneous information that DPAD is part of the ‘Mais Saúde Legal I Consortium’, which supposedly had a contract with the state, the PGR said it cannot go into details because it is a confidential matter.

Source: Folhapress