Abin meets during operation, and PF summons servers – 01/27/2024 – Power

An internal meeting of the Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) leadership called by the current director general, Luiz Fernando Corrêa, on Thursday (25), the day of the operation targeting the agency, came under the Federal Police’s sights. The PF called three civil servants to testify seeking information about the content of the meeting.

The operation on Thursday brought to light another line of police investigation, in addition to those that already existed in the first phase of the investigation, that is, Abin’s current management was hindering the investigations.

Although this appeared in the reports of the delegate responsible for the case to Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), who authorized the action, there was no diligence in the minister’s decision to be carried out on the matter.

After investigators became aware of the meeting, the PF decided to subpoena employees to testify this Friday (26). One of the objectives, according to people familiar with the investigation, is to determine whether Abin leadership under Lula tried to interfere in the investigations.

On Thursday, the meeting began around 11 am, when Moraes had not yet removed the confidentiality of the decision in which he authorized the operation on Abin’s premises.

Until then, it was not public knowledge that Abin’s current leadership was also cited by the PF in the request that motivated the operation investigating the agency’s alleged illegal espionage.

According to the PF, there is evidence of “collusion” between the current management and employees who worked in the last government and are being investigated, which the agency denies.

Federal agents arrived at the Abin building around 6 am and left there at night.

Agency officials denied any type of interference attempt and say that the meeting was called for crisis management, which, they say, is normal in situations where the body’s image is affected by something major.

Federal Police investigators reported in their request to Moraes that there were indications that Abin leadership had previously tried to obstruct the investigations.

They also say that the agency’s directors blocked access to documents and that is why it was necessary to carry out search and seizure measures at the agency’s headquarters more than once. Furthermore, they point out that the organization’s leadership passed on incorrect information to the PF, making investigation difficult.

Abin employees deny these reports and say that no request from the PF regarding this investigation went unanswered.

This Thursday’s operation targeted the agency’s former director Alexandre Ramagem, who commanded the agency under Jair Bolsonaro and is now a federal deputy, and other police officers who work at the agency.

For the PF, there was “collusion on the part of those investigated with Abin’s current senior management”, which would have caused damage to the investigation and also to the agency itself.

The body cites the agency’s number two, Alessandro Moretti, and says that, in a meeting with those under investigation, he stated that the investigation into the case had “a political basis and would pass”. Moretti is a PF delegate.

For people involved in the case, there was a lack of desire on the part of Abin’s leadership to clarify the investigation.

Abin also denies these points. Members of the agency emphasize that on the day of Moretti’s aforementioned meeting, at the end of March, the employees were not yet being investigated. And that the “political background” mentioned referred to the behind-the-scenes feud between the leadership of the two corporations, Abin and PF, not to investigations.

The first time the PF carried out an operation on Abin’s premises took place in October, also authorized by Moraes, to investigate irregular use of its geolocation system.

This Friday’s testimony takes place when the agency’s command is at risk of dismissal. Allies of President Lula are betting on Moretti’s departure and have doubts about the general director’s permanence.

The PF operation on Thursday takes place in an investigation into the alleged political use of Abin against political opponents of former president Bolsonaro.

The main target of the operation is Ramagem, pre-candidate for Mayor of Rio de Janeiro. The PF even asked for the suspension of the parliamentarian’s mandate, but the measure was not agreed by the PGR and was denied by Moraes.

The suspicions that came to light in the operation caused a political reaction in Brasília, with the president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann, speaking of “one of the biggest scandals in history” and the “end of a skein that involved tens of thousands of people”.

On the other hand, the case should cause even more tension in the relationship between Congress and the Supreme Court, as it was the second operation in just over a week involving searches inside the Legislative headquarters.

Bolsonarists are trying to articulate measures to review the powers of the STF when it returns from recess, in February, and say there is political persecution.

Federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) wrote on social media: “Another chapter of the dictatorship of the Judiciary. It is up to the Senate to stop this persecution and preserve freedoms.”

The PF targets Abin’s use of Israeli-made FirstMile spy software and is investigating whether the agency produced reports on STF ministers and Bolsonaro’s opponents. On another front, the investigation found evidence that Abin acted to provide information about ongoing investigations into Jair Renan and Flávio Bolsonaro, sons of the former president.

Deputy Ramagem denied any use or relationship with Abin’s spying software. “No operation plan, in Abin’s three years, signed by me, included the use of FirstMile [como um pedido]”, said the deputy, in an interview with GloboNews this Thursday.

The operation, called Approximate Surveillance, investigates a “criminal organization that set up shop in Abin with the aim of illegally monitoring public authorities and other people, using geolocation tools on mobile devices without due judicial authorization”.

The spy program investigated by the PF has the capacity to obtain georeferencing information from cell phones. According to people with knowledge of the tool, it does not allow access to connection content or message exchanges.

According to the PF, “Abin Paralela” created during the Ramagem administration tried to link Moraes and fellow STF minister Gilmar Mendes to the PCC criminal faction. For the corporation, information about the attempt to link ministers to the PCC was found in documents seized from Abin.