Minister Fachin does not own a building in Penha, in Santa Catarina – 06/16/2023 – Power

STF (Federal Supreme Court) minister Edson Fachin does not own a building in the city of Penha, Santa Catarina, as a video on TikTok claims. The residential property, which is still under construction, is owned by the company Santer Empreendimentos. Both the construction company and the STF deny the information disclosed on social networks.

The development, as verified by the Comprova Project, is located on Rua Joaquim Antônio Simão, in the center of Penha, about 30 kilometers from the city of Balneário Camboriú.

In the narration of the video, a man says that Fachin owns the building and also claims that the minister would have committed “falcatrua and robbery” to finance the venture.

In a note published on the official website, the STF states: “This is completely fanciful content and unscrupulous disinformation. The authorship of the video is already under investigation by the competent bodies”.

The construction company reiterates that the information that Fachin is the owner of the building is false and that the company is solely responsible for the venture. According to a note sent by the company, with the exception of the contracted bank, there is no third party participation in the investment, “notably no federal authority”.

According to the Federal Revenue, the name of Minister Fachin is not included among the partners of Santer Empreendimentos.

Using the CruzaGrafos platform, Comprova also found no connections between the partners of Santer and Edson Fachin. The Abraji (Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism) tool is able to identify links between companies and people and presents the relationship in the form of a line, which did not appear when analyzing the names of the construction company’s partners and the minister: Mari Deisi Stringari da Silva, São Miguel Participações, Capri Participações and SS Participações, which appears under the name of EMC Participações.

False, for Comprova, is content that was invented or that has been edited to change its original meaning and deliberately disseminated to spread a falsehood.

Reach

Comprova investigates suspicious content with greater reach on social networks. As of June 16, the video had 210,000 views, 11,100 likes and 9,100 shares.

How do we check

We searched for the term “Fachin”, “building” and “Penha” and found checks made on the subject by G1 and Reuters. We searched for the property’s address on Google Maps and also contacted the STF and Santer Construtora, responsible for the property. We searched with the Federal Revenue who are the partners of the construction company and crossed their names with the minister’s on the CruzaGrafos platform. Finally, we contacted the profile that published the video.

What the publisher says

The report contacted the TikTok profile that disclosed the misinformation, but did not receive a response until the completion of this check.

What can we learn from this check

In the analyzed content, the man who narrates the video does not say what is the origin of the alleged information that Minister Fachin would be the owner of the property. He also does not provide proof for such a statement and does not indicate where it would have come from. Thus, when confronted with content without source indication or that do not provide proof of what they are claiming, it is important to be suspicious. A Google search using keywords helps to discover that this is misinformation.

why do we investigate

Comprova monitors suspicious content published on social networks and messaging apps about public policies and elections at the federal level and opens investigations for those publications that have achieved greater reach and engagement. You can also suggest checks via WhatsApp +55 11 97045-4984. Suggestions and questions related to questionable content can also be sent to Sheet via WhatsApp 11 99486-0293.

Other checks on the topic

The same uninformative video was checked by G1, Reuters and AFP. The STF and its ministers are constantly cited in disinformational content. Recently, Comprova denied that a letter addressed to a minister of the Court had been written by a drug dealer. Minister Edson Fachin himself has already been accused of being a lawyer for the MST, which is also not true.

The investigation of this content was carried out by Portal Norte de Notícias and A Gazeta and published on June 16 by Projeto Comprova, a coalition that brings together 41 vehicles to check viral content. It was verified by Folha, UOL, O Popular, Plural Curitiba, Poder360, AFP and Estadão.