Moraes files investigation against 6 pro-Bolsonaro businessmen

Minister Alexandre de Moraes filed investigations against six businessmen who were part of a WhatsApp group supporting former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). In the decision, he recognized that it is “clear the absence of just cause” to keep open the investigation against Afrânio Barreira Filho, José Isaac Peres, José Koury Junior, Ivan Wrobel, Marco Aurélio Raymundo and Luiz André Tissot. The minister, however, kept businessmen Luciano Hang and Meyer Joseph Nigri under investigation, extending the investigation for another 60 days.

In August last year, at the request of PSOL deputies and Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (at the time on the Network), Moraes ordered the Federal Police to carry out an operation against the eight businessmen, after conversations leaked on the internet in which some expressed fear of a possible return of the PT to power and criticized the Federal Supreme Court for releasing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. For Moraes, there was a defense of a coup d’état.

Moraes kept the inquiry open against Meyer Nigri, because of messages exchanged with Bolsonaro; and also against Hang, because he refused to provide unlocking passwords for his cell phones – the PF is still trying to extract the contents of the devices, which remain seized.

The conversations between the entrepreneurs had the following content:

Jose Koury: “I prefer a coup than the return of the PT. A million times. And certainly no one will stop doing business with Brazil. As they do with several dictatorships around the world”

Marcus Aurelius Raimundo: “September 7 is being programmed to unite the people and the Army and at the same time make it clear which side the Army is on. Top strategy and the stage will be Rio. The Brazilian icon city abroad. It will make it very clear”

Marcus Aurelius Raimundo: “The coup was to release the prisoner. Blow is the “Supreme!” act outside the Constitution”

Andre Tissot: “The coup would have to have happened in the first days of government. In 2019 we would have gained another 10 more years”

Ivan Wrobel: “I want to see if the STE has the courage to rig the elections after a military parade on Av. Atlántica with the troops applauded by the public”.

One year of investigation

On this Monday (21), a year after the opening of the investigation, Moraes said that, “although they agreed with the false news”, the six businessmen “did not go beyond the limits of internal manifestation in the said group, without the externalization capable of causing influence in third parties as opinion makers”.

“No real evidence of typical facts committed by those investigated (quid) or any indication of the means that they would have employed (quibus auxiliis) in relation to the conduct object of investigation, or even the harm it produced (quid), the reasons that determined it (quomodo), the place where it was practiced (ubi), the time (when) or any other relevant information that justifies the continuation of the investigation”, he wrote in the decision.

In the same decision, the minister authorized the PF to return to other businessmen their cell phones and computers that were withheld. Citing STF precedents, he stated that, when there is a lack of elements to maintain the investigation, it characterizes “unfair and serious embarrassment” on the targets.

In a note, Ivan Wrobel’s defense stated that he and other investigated persons suffered “unjust criminal prosecution, with blocking of bank accounts; in addition to great damage to his honor, that of his family and that of his companies ”.

In the decision, the PF recognized that, in breach of telematic secrecy – to extract content from emails and cell phone applications – five of the six accounts analyzed belonged to family members of the businessmen.

Luciano Hang owns the Havan stores; Meyer Nigri owns construction company Tecnisa; Afrânio Barreira, from the Coco Bambu restaurants; José Isaac Peres owns the Multiplan shopping mall chain; José Koury owns Barra World Shopping, in Rio de Janeiro; Ivan Wrobel is a partner at the construction company W3 Engenharia; and Marco Aurélio Raymundo owns the surfwear brand Mormaii; and André Tissot owns the Sierra Móveis group.