Abin sent Moraes and PF data about spy software used under Bolsonaro 6 months ago

Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) sent on April 11 to the STF (Supreme Federal Court) and the Federal Police a spreadsheet containing the list of telephone numbers monitored by the agency during the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government through Israeli spy software acquired in 2018.

Documents obtained by Sheet mention that the list, sent via a pendrive, contained the telephone number, the case to which it was related and, in some situations, the name of the person using the device.

Abin agents dispute behind the scenes the need for the search and seizure requested by the PF and authorized by Alexandre de Moraes, from the STF, on the grounds that the agency never refused to respond to requests from the corporation or orders from the Judiciary.

The documents exchanged since March show that there was a frequent sending of information from the agency to the PF and the STF since March, when information came to light, published by the newspaper O Globo, that Abin had used the FirstMile software to monitor the location of people.

Last Friday (20), the Federal Police carried out an investigation into the suspicion that the agency used the program, during the Bolsonaro government, to illegally monitor the cell phones of journalists, politicians and opponents of the former president.

25 search and seizure warrants and two preventive arrest warrants were executed. Moraes ordered the removal of Paulo Maurício Fortunato Pinto, number 3 at Abin, and four other employees.

In addition to suspicions about the Bolsonaro administration — during the period when Abin was commanded by now federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ) —, the investigation is taking place amid a dispute behind the scenes of the government.

The general director of the PF, Andrei Rodrigues, and the general director of Abin, Luiz Fernando Corrêa, occupy divergent camps within the Lula government (PT)

The documents obtained by Sheet record that from the end of March to August of this year, the PF requested and received a series of documents related to the case from Abin.

On March 24, about a week after the PF opened the investigation, Abin sent the police a copy of internal investigations related to the case and the names of servers that had some type of access to the Israeli tool.

Abin records in this letter, however, a series of warnings about the need to maintain the confidentiality of information, considering that cases in which FirstMile had been used, whether ongoing or already closed, “remain confidential, whether by legal provision , whether due to the need to maintain the security of Abin’s servers.

The agency also highlighted that the disclosure of data “represents a risk for employees and their families, in addition to a risk for the intelligence actions developed by Abin”.

Despite this, Abin writes at the end that “this agency (…) will give the issue the urgent treatment that the situation recommends, in accordance with applicable legislation”.

On April 11, the agency informed the PF in the morning that it had requested the STF on March 29 to order Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) and the telephone companies to provide its investigation commission with access to registration data that would allow the identification of telephone numbers monitored by the agency.

“The objective of the measure is to avoid the list being processed, that is, to ensure that such a list remains, for security reasons (of information, servers, human sources), only at Abin”, says the document signed by number 2 of Abin, Alessandro Moretti.

In view of this, the agency asked the PF to await a decision from the STF (the court did not authorize access to telephone registration data by Abin) or that the consultation be carried out at the agency’s headquarters, “in order to avoid listing the desired information circulate before the Supreme Court’s formal statement.”

At 7:23 pm on the same day 11, however, Abin sent a new letter to the PF “containing the list of original log records from the FirstMile tool”. That same day, the pendrive with the information was sent to Moraes at the STF, with a receipt date of the following day.

In the public note released on Friday, the agency says that “all requests from the Federal Police and the Federal Supreme Court were fully met by Abin”, which “has collaborated with the competent authorities since the beginning of the investigations”.

On the PF side, the argument is that the investigation followed normal procedures and that it is just another investigation against Bolsonarist contamination in the institutions.

Police say that the searches at Abin’s headquarters were necessary to collect information relevant to the investigation that is still ongoing.

According to an investigation by the Sheetthe PF points out that the software was used against Bolsonaro’s opponents.

The software allows access to geolocation data, but not the content of the devices — that is, it would not allow calls or conversations to be tapped.

FirstMile would have been used more than 30 thousand times in the period in which it was used — 2019, 2020 and part of 2021 (until May). Of this total, 1,800 would target politicians, journalists and opponents of the Bolsonaro government.

According to a report by the newspaper O Globo published this Monday (23), journalist Glenn Greenwald and former federal deputy David Miranda (PDT-RJ), who died in May this year, were illegally spied on by Abin during the Bolsonaro administration.

Abin reports in the documentation sent to the PF that computers used by servers to use the tool underwent standard formatting, after the discontinuation of use of FirstMile, but that the data had been saved on servers. The devices were also sent for criminal examination at the PF.

The Army also acquired the tool during the federal intervention in public security in Rio de Janeiro, which had General Walter Braga Netto (who later became Jair Bolsonaro’s minister) as commander.

The Force refused, however, to provide explanations about the purchase of intelligence software with money from GIF (Office of Federal Intervention in Rio de Janeiro) and the purpose of using these tools.

The Intervention Office purchased the system from the company Verint Systems, an Israeli group that had the First Mile manufacturer under its control.

Federal intervention paid almost R$40 million to the Israeli group that owns the software. It is not known, however, whether the amount was spent solely on the acquisition of this program or whether other systems were included.

*With information from Folha

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