CGU opens proceedings against PF employees investigated in “parallel Abin”

The Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) announced the opening of administrative disciplinary proceedings against three Federal Police (PF) employees investigated in the case that recently became known as “parallel Abin”. The decision was published in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU) this Thursday (11).

Marcelo Araújo Bormevet, Felipe Arlotta Freitas and Eliomar da Silva Pereira will be investigated for being absent from service for more than 60 days between 2021 and 2022, a period in which they were assigned to the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin).

Bormevet has been a PF agent since 2005 and is suspended from performing public functions due to a decision by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), handed down on January 25, 2024. Freitas was also removed by the magistrate and was transferred to Abin during the management of Alexandre Ramagem, between 2019 and 2022.

Pereira was also assigned to Abin under the direction of Ramagem between 2021 and 2022, working at the Research and Development Center for Communications Security (Cepesc).

Disciplinary administrative processes, says the CGU, will analyze the conduct of employees, guaranteeing them the right to full defense and contradictory proceedings. The deadline for completing the work is 60 days, which can be extended for an equal period.

The three agents are being investigated as part of the discovery of what would be an illegal spying scheme on authorities by Abin using a secret program – called FirstMile – that monitored cell phones belonging to pre-determined targets.

The scheme was the target of two Federal Police operations launched in October last year and in January this year, the latter targeting Ramagem, who currently holds the position of federal deputy for PL-RJ.

Ramagem was the general director of Abin in the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), and said that he ordered a formal audit of all contracts when he took office in 2019 and that the analysis led to a request for correction in the Internal Affairs Department- Abin General. The PF operation he was the target of was the result of “austerity work promoted during our management”.

The program was acquired at the end of Michel Temer’s (MDB) administration in 2018 and used until part of the third year of the Bolsonaro government. At the time of the Last Mile operation, in October 2023, Abin reported that the contract for use of the software was terminated in May 2021 and “is no longer in use”.

The agency also informed that it initiated a procedure to investigate the case and that it responded to all requests made by the PF and the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

FirstMile used GPS data to monitor people’s locations via cell phones and tablets, and had the capacity to inspect up to 10,000 devices every 12 months. The program still issued alerts about the targets’ routine movement, but did not tap the content of conversations or messages.