Delegate cites pressure to link PT to factions in the 2nd round – 10/06/2023 – Power

A note found on the cell phone of Federal Police delegate Marília Ferreira, former right-hand woman of Anderson Torres, states that “there was a certain pressure” after the first round of elections for her to indicate a relationship between the PT and criminal factions.

The text written in the first person describes the mobilization of the Ministry of Justice in the face of Torres’ “concern” with the Northeast — especially with Bahia, a state that gave Lula (PT) more than 72% of the valid votes, the second highest percentage from the country.

The text was in the notepad on Marília’s cell phone, delivered by Apple to the CPI on January 8th. It is not possible to know the date it was written. Apple’s report only says that the five cell phone notes are from the period between December 31, 2021 and August 18 of this year.

“The minister was concerned about the Northeast and he spoke a lot about Bahia, as he had seen on the map when planning the first round that there was very little distribution of teams in the interior of Bahia. Since before the first round, DINT [Diretoria de Inteligência] I received dozens of videos and posts from people, most of them fake news, about buying votes and the PT’s links with criminal factions”, says an excerpt from the text.

“Every news or report that arrived, we tried to confirm it, asking for the BO [boletim de ocorrência] or by consulting the respective intelligence center. So, something that was ingrained in SEOPI [Secretaria de Operações Integradas do ministério] It was this PT’s relationship with vote buying, and we always commented on that”, he continues.

Marília and Torres are at the center of investigations investigating whether the PRF (Federal Highway Police) mounted hundreds of checkpoints in the second round to disrupt PT voters and favor Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The PF’s suspicion is that the operation was planned based on a survey carried out by it with the places where Lula received more than 75% of the votes in the first round. Former PRF director Silvinei Vasques has been in preventive detention since August.

“There was a certain pressure for me to produce a report that indicated the PT’s relationship with criminal factions, as there were some indications of this, but we didn’t do it because there was no proof”, says another excerpt of the text.

Wanted by Sheet, Marília’s defense stated in a statement that they were unaware of the supposed note. “The technical defense did not have access to and is unaware of this supposed note. If it exists, it is confidential and its leak must be investigated.”

Marília was director of intelligence at the Ministry of Justice in the Bolsonaro government and accompanied Torres back to the Federal District Security Secretariat after Lula’s victory. She was responsible for the secretariat’s intelligence on January 8, the day of the coup attacks against the headquarters of the three Powers.

The note located on Marília’s cell phone also details alleged pressure from Torres for the Federal Police to reinforce its personnel in the second round of the elections. The former minister even said, according to the text, that he would change the then general director of the corporation, Márcio Nunes, if Bolsonaro was re-elected.

According to the record, Torres complained that the PF was acting “soft” and that, therefore, the Secretariat of Integrated Operations itself would plan the actions. The text also describes a meeting between teams from the ministry and the corporation regarding signs of vote buying in the Northeast.

“Márcio asked if there was an intelligence report on this, I said I would try to see if we could demonstrate the increase in electoral crimes so that there would be justification for an increase in personnel in relation to the second round. However, I spoke with Tomás [supostamente Tomás Vianna, ex-coordenador de inteligência do ministério]and we concluded that there was no such increase.”

The note also says that the minister “even commented that he really liked Márcio but that he was not a very firm person for that moment and that in a possible victory in the elections he would change the DG [diretor-geral]”.

“Márcio didn’t want to comply with his determination, and ended up not complying, as the plans were not followed.”

Torres’ defense declined to comment. “The defense of former minister Anderson Torres became aware of this fact through the press. He did not have official access to the documents or expertise and, therefore, prefers to speak out in the case at an opportune moment”, declared lawyer Eumar Novacki, in a statement.

The CPI also located, among the images on the delegate’s cell phone, a screenshot of a tweet written by a user on October 29, the day before the second round.

The text said: “Even the bus from Santo-Sé, in Bahia, which transports patients undergoing medical treatment in Salvador was detained by the Federal Highway Police. They are running terror to increase abstention in the Northeast! It’s criminal! The TSE you need to act urgently!”