Former aide to Lira arrested with cash returns to the Chamber – 06/06/2023 – Power

Arthur Lira’s (PP-AL) parliamentary advisor, arrested in 2012 at Congonhas airport with R$106,000 in cash hidden under his clothes, returned to work in the Chamber of Deputies this year, now with an opposing group of the President of the House.

Jaymerson José Gomes de Amorim —who in 2023 appears as an employee of the office of deputy Luciano Amaral (PV-AL)— is the pivot of a case that resulted in a complaint against Lira in the Federal Supreme Court.

The case may have an outcome this Tuesday afternoon (6), after more than two and a half years at a standstill.

The STF accepted a complaint for passive corruption against Lira in 2019, but, in November 2020, Minister Dias Toffoli requested a view during the analysis of an appeal against the receipt of the complaint.

Toffoli only returned the case to the docket recently, more than two and a half years after his request for review. The analysis of the case is on the agenda for this Tuesday’s trial of the First Panel of the court – there are already 3 votes to reject the appeal, out of a total of 5, but there is the possibility of changing the vote.

This chance was considered because, after Augusto Aras took office, the Attorney General’s Office changed its position and started to recommend the rejection of the complaint against Lira.

Jaymerson has been working with deputy Luciano Amaral since the first day of the current legislature, February 1st. He was initially appointed as parliamentary secretary and, in March, moved to a position of a special nature. His salary in April was BRL 21,096.34, according to the Chamber’s website.

The PV deputy who gave the job to Jaymerson is a supporter of the governor of Alagoas, Paulo Dantas (MDB), and an ally of the political group of Senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL) – both rivals of Lira in the state.

Amaral confirmed the appointment of Jaymerson, whom he describes as “a very good employee”. The deputy said that he has nothing to do with the facts of the process involving Lira and that he did not know the advisor before February. He did not answer who made his nomination for the post,

“Nothing prevents, there is no legal impediment for him to be an employee of the Chamber. What he participated or did not participate, I do not know”, said Amaral.

In recent years, Jaymerson worked as an advisor to the Legislative Assembly of Alagoas. His name also appears in a R$ 2.7 million contract signed by the Alagoan State Department of Culture, in 2022, as head of an event organization company.

The investigations attached to the case against Lira at the STF report that, in February 2012, Jaymerson was arrested in Congonhas when he tried to pass the X-ray at the airport with bundles of bills under his clothes.

According to the inquiry, the then adviser would have been instructed by the parliamentarian to conceal the origin of the money, in case he was caught.

“On February 10, 2012, at Congonhas airport in São Paulo, Arthur Cesar Pereira de Lira, in order to hide the nature, origin, disposition, movement and that he was the recipient of the R$ 106,400.00 (…) determined that an intermediary person, Jaymerson José Gomes de Amorim, move it, concealing the banknotes around his body, under his clothes, in his jacket pockets, next to his waist and inside his socks. the nature, origin and ownership of the money by the deputy”, wrote the then attorney general Raquel Dodge in the complaint.

The prosecutor stated that the money transported by the advisor consisted of a payment made to Lira by Francisco Colombo, then president of the state-owned CBTU (Companhia Brasileira de Trens Urbanos), to remain in office.

At the time, the company was part of the hierarchy of the Ministry of Cities, commanded by the PP in the Dilma Rousseff (PT) government. Columbus died in 2014.

As evidence, Dodge listed the seizure of Jaymerson’s cell phones and breaches of secrecy that showed intense exchange of messages and calls on the day between Lira, the advisor and Colombo, the fact that the airline tickets were purchased on Lira’s credit card, in addition to accusations, including that of money changer Alberto Youseff.

Upon being caught, Jaymerson claimed the money was related to fees, but did not say from whom or provide evidence of its origin.

He was exonerated from the position days later — despite working for Lira, Jaymerson was allocated to the second vice-presidency of the Chamber, at the time occupied by Eduardo da Fonte (PP-PE) — and later changed the version.

Jaymerson went on to say to the authorities that he went to São Paulo to buy a car from a friend of Colombo, although he was unable to say the year and model of that car, and that he returned shortly afterwards after the deal did not go through.

Lira stated that he was unaware of the trip made by the advisor and that he had the password for his cards as he made transactions while working for him.

A Sheet failed to reach Jaymerson.

Lawyer Pierpaolo Bottini, who defends Lira in this case, says that the complaint is based only on a snitch.

“The accusation is based on the denunciation of a money changer, whose enmity with the deputy was recognized and whose testimonies were disregarded by the judiciary itself. Maintaining the criminal action would mean recognizing the value of the statements of someone who has already shown himself not to be trustworthy”, stated.