Mauro Cid runs the risk of losing benefits from the plea bargain

Lieutenant Colonel

Soldier has been free since September

Army lieutenant colonel Mauro Cid (photo) runs the risk of losing guaranteed benefits after signing a plea bargain agreement with the Federal Police (PF) to escape arrest due to investigations involving him and former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp was arrested again on Friday (22), as ordered by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Alexandre de Moraes, after Veja magazine published audio messages in which the military officer criticized the performance of the minister and the PF.

According to the STF, Cid failed to comply with precautionary measures agreed in the agreement when making the statements. The soldier will also be charged with the crime of obstruction of justice. He is imprisoned in the Army Police battalion, in Brasília.

The soldier has been free since September last year, when he signed a plea agreement and gained the right to respond freely to the proceedings being processed against him.

Following the new arrest, PF investigators began to assess whether the benefits granted to Cid will be maintained. The final decision will be made by the Supreme Court.

Cid signed a plea bargain agreement after being arrested last year in connection with the investigation into fraud in vaccination certificates against Covid-19. In addition to the case regarding vaccines, Cid also cooperated with the investigation into an attempted coup d’état that would have been prepared at the highest level of the Bolsonaro government.

Termination

If the Federal Police concludes that Mauro Cid did not comply with the obligations of the agreement, the former aide-de-camp could be subject to a request to terminate the collaboration. The measure would not annul the plea bargain, but would cancel the benefits, including the right to remain free.

The termination of plea bargains has already been used in other major investigations. In 2017, the then Attorney General of the Republic, Rodrigo Janot, asked for the rescission of the denunciation of the executives of the J&F group.

At the time, businessmen Joesley and Wesley Batista were accused of omitting information during the signing of the agreement. In 2020, the agreement was reestablished after the defendants committed to paying around R$1 billion in fines.

Audios

According to the Veja report, Cid stated that he was pressured by the PF to report episodes of which he was not aware or “which did not happen”. The former assistant also stated, according to the publication, that the Attorney General’s Office and Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the investigations into the soldier at the STF, have a “ready narrative” and would only be waiting for the right moment to “arrest everyone”.

Yesterday, Cid was called upon to explain his statements during a court hearing presided over by an assistant judge from Alexandre de Moraes’ office.

The former assistant confirmed at the hearing that he sent the audio message to friends in a “venting” tone. Contrary to what he said in the messages, the soldier reaffirmed that he spontaneously decided to denounce the facts he witnessed during the Bolsonaro government and that there was no pressure from the PF or the Judiciary to make the accusations.

Cid did not reveal who he sent the audio criticizing Moraes and the PF to. By choosing not to inform who he spoke to, the lieutenant colonel will be the target of a new investigation.

Defense

After the publication of Veja’s article, Mauro Cid’s defense also claimed that the dialogues were made in an outburst tone.

The lawyers said that the statements “are nothing more than an outburst in which he reports the difficult moment and the personal, family and professional anguish he is going through”.

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