Chief of Revenue debunked data of Bolsonaro’s disaffections – 02/27/2023 – Politics

The head of intelligence at the Federal Revenue at the beginning of the Jair Bolsonaro administration accessed and copied confidential tax data from the coordinator of the investigations into the alleged “cracks” scheme (the then Attorney General of Justice of Rio Eduardo Gussem) and from two politicians who had broken with the presidential family, businessman Paulo Marinho and former minister Gustavo Bebianno.

Official internal government documents obtained by Sheet and testimonials from people directly related to the case show that Ricardo Pereira Feitosa, then general coordinator of Research and Investigation at the Revenue, unmotivatedly accessed the data on July 10, 16 and 18, 2019, the first year of the Bolsonaro administration (2019 -2022).

There was no formal investigation underway at the Revenue Service against these three people, which resulted in the subsequent opening of an internal investigation and disciplinary proceedings against Feitosa.

In a note of his defense that he sent to the report, Feitosa did not respond directly to the questions. She only said that she did not commit a violation, that she did not leak confidential data and that she always acted in strict compliance with legal duty.

Attorney Eduardo Gussem headed the Public Ministry of the state of Rio de Janeiro from January 2017 to January 2021, a period in which the body received, during investigation, a report produced by Coaf (Council for the Control of Financial Activities) indicating atypical financial transactions by Fabrício Queiroz , former adviser to Flávio Bolsonaro in the Legislative Assembly of Rio.

Marinho and Bebbiano, who became close friends, participated in Bolsonaro’s campaign command in 2018.

The first gave up his mansion in Jardim Botânico do Rio to be the headquarters and recording studio of the campaign, having also integrated and been elected first alternate senator on the ticket of Flávio Bolsonaro.

The second coordinated the captain’s presidential campaign, as he liked to call Bolsonaro, and later became minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency.

Both, however, broke up or distanced themselves from the Bolsonaros early in their management. In mid-2019, the two were already aligned with the then governor of São Paulo João Doria (PSDB) —who was also already on the path that made him one of the most fought former allies by the president and his surroundings.

The documents and information obtained by the Sheet show that the head of Revenue intelligence accessed and extracted a copy of attorney Eduardo Gussem’s complete income tax returns for seven years —2013 to 2019.

The Public Ministry of Rio denounced Flávio e Queiroz in October 2020, but the case had favorable turns for the senator, with the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) annulling in 2021 all decisions taken by the first instance of Justice.

From Bebianno, among others, IR data for seven years, from 2013 to 2019, were accessed and extracted.

Bebianno was the first minister dismissed from the Bolsonaro government in February 2019, when he became the center of a crisis installed in the Planalto Palace after the Sheet revealed the existence of a scheme of orange PSL candidacies to divert public electoral funds.

Since his resignation, he has become a critical voice against Bolsonaro and his children’s interference. He died in March 2020, a victim of a heart attack, according to the family.

Marinho, on the other hand, had the IRs from 2008 to 2019 accessed (with the exception of 2012) and copied. His wife, Adriana, from 2010 to 2013.

The then head of Revenue intelligence scoured data from Bolsonaro’s enemies in three other secret Revenue systems, one that gathers assets and financial operations of special interest to the Tax Authorities, one for foreign trade and an integrated platform powered by 29 different databases.

In the foreign trade system, there was also access to the company ABM Consultoria, which has Marinho’s wife as managing partner.

Marinho has traveled a long path of distance and friction with the Bolsonaro family – in May 2020, for example, he stated that the Federal Police told Flávio Bolsonaro that Queiroz would be the target of an operation.

On the day of victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) over Bolsonaro in the second round of elections, October 30, he published a photo next to Bebianno and the following inscription: “It’s over, Gustavo. We paid our penance! Rest in peace , my brother”.

Ricardo Feitosa worked at the Revenue office in Cuiabá before taking over as the agency’s national intelligence chief on May 21, 2019.

On September 23 of that same year, that is, with only four months in the job, he was exonerated from his position and transferred to Customs at Brasília International Airport.

According to the government’s Transparency portal, he is currently the tax auditor of the Customs Administration of the Revenue in Cuiabá.

The case of the probe into the data of Bolsonaro’s disaffections began to be investigated by the Revenue in a preliminary procedure, in January 2020.

In a second stage, an investigative investigation was launched in March of the same year, which ended with the opening of a PAD (Disciplinary Administrative Process).

The PAD is the most serious phase of administrative procedures in civil service, and may result in dismissal or punishment, with penalties ranging from a warning to dismissal from public service.

The PAD ran through the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 and, according to people familiar with the situation, it is currently on the table of the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, with a recommendation that Feitosa resign from public service.

In 2020, Flávio Bolsonaro’s defense mobilized several organs of his father’s government precisely under the assertion that there was an illegal access scheme to his tax data, which would have based the production of the Coaf Financial Intelligence Report that triggered the case of “cracks”.

The Revenue even requested a probe into its systems to try to identify illegal access to tax data from the president, his three political sons, his two ex-wives and the first lady, Michelle.

As revealed to Sheet, from October 2020 to February 2021, the agency also mobilized a team of five public servants for four months to investigate the accusation made by Flávio. The conclusion was that there was no evidence of illegal acts by auditors against the Bolsonaro clan.

According to the Revenue, public servants who violate the tax secrecy of taxpayers are subject to penalties of a criminal, administrative and civil nature, such as dismissal (administrative) and prosecution for material and moral damages (civil).

OTHER SIDE: Auditor says he did not leak confidential data

Ricardo Pereira Feitosa did not respond directly to questions about whether he acted alone or on someone’s orders, why he made the accesses without formal motivation for doing so and what destination he gave to the confidential data he collected from the prosecutor, Bebianno, Marinho and your woman.

In a note from his defense that he sent to the reporter, he said that he held several leadership positions in his life “always with seriousness, zeal, attention to the public interest and strict compliance with legal duties, working to combat the practice of tax offenses and exercising his power-duty to act in tax intelligence”, especially when he headed the tax intelligence.

“In this sense, the aforementioned employee has always exercised his legal duties within his functional attributions as a tax auditor in an impersonal manner, in favor of the public interest. all intelligence data held under the protection of legal secrecy.”

The Revenue did not manifest itself, stating that “issues related to the correctional area run under secrecy, under the terms of the pertinent legislation”. Questioned again, the agency did not inform which legislation and which terms it was specifically referring to.

Federal Revenue Secretary when Feitosa exercised intelligence coordination, Marcos Cintra stated that he was not aware of the case and that he is also unaware of the operational procedures that Feitosa used in the area of ​​investigation.