1/8: GDias ordered Abin reports omitted from Congress – 06/13/2023 – Power

It came from General Gonçalves Dias, then chief minister of the GSI (Institutional Security Office) of the Lula (PT) government, the order for the direction of Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) to delete from the report delivered to the National Congress the alerts sent to him about the threat of attacks on January 8.

At the request of the CCAI (Commission for Intelligence Control Activities), the GSI forwarded to Congress a document with intelligence reports released by Abin between January 2nd and 8th.

The list, sent to the commission on January 20, contained messages addressed to different bodies via WhatsApp. It did not, however, present the reports that had been sent, according to the agency, directly to GDias (the name by which the general is known).

A Sheet found out that the general had these reports omitted from a draft previously submitted to him, on the grounds that this exchange of information did not occur through official channels.

The existence of alerts produced and forwarded directly to GDias was revealed by Sheet.

The agency was headed at the time by intelligence officer Saulo Moura da Cunha. He left the post in March and started to occupy a position in the GSI itself from April, during the management of GDias. He resigned on June 1.

The alerts sent to the then minister only reached Congress last month, through a new report by Abin – this one with the reports that, according to the agency, were sent directly to GDias.

The difference between the two versions of the reports was revealed by the newspaper O Globo and confirmed by Sheet. In total, 11 alerts sent to GDias were suppressed from the first document.

The first request for information to the GSI was made on January 9 by the then president of the CCAI, senator Esperidião Amin (PP-SC). In response, Abin prepared a spreadsheet with the reports distributed by the agency via WhatsApp in the period leading up to the depredations on the Esplanada.

A Sheet found that, upon receiving this draft, GDias determined that the report sent to Congress only contained information distributed in groups —treated as official Abin channels since the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

That decision was up to the general, since, according to the law that instituted the so-called Sisbin (Brazilian Intelligence System), documents on intelligence activities and matters produced by Abin can only be provided to the authorities by the head of the GSI.

The complete spreadsheet was kept in the intelligence agency’s archives.

GDias resigned from his position in April, after the release of images that questioned the agency’s performance during the January 8 coup attack. Videos of the closed security circuit during the invasion of the headquarters of the Presidency of the Republic show a collaborative action of agents with coup plotters and the presence of Gonçalves Dias on the spot.

As shown to Sheet in April, the use of WhatsApp to exchange intelligence information became common during the management of delegate and current federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ), a member of the CPI. At the time, the agency was subordinated to the minister of GSI Augusto Heleno.

The report found that the second document was delivered to the CCAI spontaneously by the current management of Abin after the PGR (Attorney General of the Republic) requested the reports, published by Sheet in March.

The sending of the second compilation, therefore, took place when GDias had already been exonerated by President Lula — and Abin was under the umbrella of the Civil House, and not of the GSI.

On May 31, the parliamentarians that make up the commission analyzed the Abin reports and the decision of the Minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) Alexandre de Moraes, who ordered the sending of copies to the PGR.

A Sheet verified that the first document delivered to the senators does not inform that part of the alerts were also triggered in the WhastApp group created by the Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District.

At the time of the attacks —and the delivery of the first report—, the agency was under the command of Saulo Moura da Cunha, appointed by Lula as deputy director until the Senate’s hearing. On April 13, he was invited by GDias to head the Special Advisory Board on Planning and Strategic Affairs at GSI.

A week later, the minister was exonerated after the revelation of his images inside the Planalto Palace during the action of the invaders. Moura was maintained by the current head of the GSI, General Antônio Amaro.

The target of requests for summons to testify to the CPI on January 8, Moura handed over his position on June 1.

As shown to Sheet in April, Abin states that Gonçalves Dias received intelligence alerts on his own WhatsApp between January 6th and 8th. Three of them, according to Abin, were sent exclusively to GDias —identified in the document as “minister of GSI”.

The content of the messages sent via WhatsApp already indicated on the night of Friday, January 6th, the risk of invasion of Congress, the possibility of violent actions in other buildings on the Esplanada and the existence of armed demonstrators.

Questioned by the report about what GDias’ guidance would have been for sending information to Congress, Moura, who is a career server at Abin, alleged legal restrictions.

“Thanks for the questions, but for legal reasons I cannot comment on matters related to intelligence activity,” he replied to Sheet.

OTHER SIDE: Defense of former minister says he has no documents

Lawyer André Callegari, who defends GDias, said in a note that he does not have “these documents” cited, that the matter is under secrecy and that the general has answered all the questions asked in the scope of the investigations.

“There are several investigations underway, in various instances, on the subject. The general has answered all the questions asked in the context of the investigations and cannot give interviews at this time.”

Questioned by the report on June 2 about the divergence between the two reports, Abin declined to comment and stated that the matter is being dealt with by the Civil House. Contacted on the same date, the Civil House asked the reporter to contact Abin.

A Sheet had questioned Abin and the GSI on May 26 about the exclusion of the alerts sent to the former minister.

Abin stated that it responded to the commission’s request “in an exhaustive manner, by transferring it to the Institutional Security Office, as determined by article 9º A of Law 9.883”, and that “it does not have information on the dissemination of documents between the GSI and the CCAI”.

The GSI —to which Abin was subordinate on January 8—said that it “sent the report as received from Abin to the Commission for Control of Intelligence Activities”.