Payment of advisor banking personal life-politics of Lira – 06/27/2023 – Power

A list found by the Federal Police indicates that Luciano Cavalcante, one of Arthur Lira’s (PP-AL) closest advisers, made payments related to various instances of the mayor’s personal and political life.

The document in possession of the investigators of the Hephaestus operation includes purchases of beverages, such as wines and whiskey, expenses with party preparations, car repairs and even the purchase of a shower.

The PF found documents with Luciano mentioning Lira and at least one list of payments linked to the name “Arthur”. The action was one of the consequences of investigations into alleged deviations in contracts for the purchase of robotics kits with public money.

The case was sent to the STF (Federal Supreme Court) after the PF found citations to the mayor. The seized material, as shown by the Sheetlists at least BRL 834 thousand in amounts paid from December 2022 to March 2023. Of this total, at least BRL 650 thousand has the name “Arthur” in front of the value.

The list indicates that Luciano actively worked for Lira, despite not being linked to his office. He was assigned to the leadership of the PP, but was exonerated shortly after being targeted by the PF.

In the first demonstration after the PF action at the beginning of the month, Lira said that each one was “responsible for their CPF”.

In a note sent to Sheet on Sunday (25), Lira replied through her advisory that the transactions found with Luciano and with his name noted refer to his earnings as a parliamentarian or in rural activity.

“All financial transactions and payments of expenses made by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, whether carried out by him and, sometimes, by his advisory, originate from his earnings as a farmer and his remuneration as a federal deputy”, says a note sent by the advisory.

In April 2022, the Sheet showed that the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government had earmarked R$26 million for seven cities in Alagoas to buy robotic kits despite suffering from serious infrastructure deficiencies. All cities had contracts with the same company, Megalic, owned by Edmundo Catunda and Roberta Lins, close to Lira.

Federal resources, released and transferred at unusual speed, were the so-called rapporteur’s amendments, a billionaire part of the Union budget controlled by Lira.

The PF tracked suspicious money transfers and withdrawals from Megalic’s partners and also from people and companies linked to the two partners. It was from this work that the police arrived, for example, at Luciano, known in Brasília and Alagoas for being one of Lira’s main assistants.

This Monday (26), the Sheet showed that Luciano Cavalcante and Edmundo Catunda, from Megalic, were, in 2021, together at the FNDE (National Education Development Fund). The body of the MEC (Ministry of Education) responsible for transfers of resources under investigation.

In the document with a list of expenses found with Luciano, there are BRL 30,300 in payments related to wines, beers, whiskey, champagne, liquor and unidentified drinks. On January 31 of this year, it is said that Luciano bought BRL 8,570.04 in “wines”, in 3 installments on his card, according to his notes.

Notes related to the last days of 2022 report purchases of tickets and preparations for New Year’s Eve in a total of BRL 64,000. There are items described, for example, as “Banda Reveillon” (R$ 11 thousand), “Som Reveillon” (R$ 3 thousand), “Wines and Champagnes [sic]” (R$ 6,300.00), as well as a “shower” (R$ 24.00).

In January of this year, there is an item worth R$ 144.90 related to the phrase “Leite Bil”. The father of the mayor, also a politician Benedito Lira (PP-AL), is known as Bil and there are two other notes related to him, which would be physiotherapy payments.

Another note indicates Lira’s personal expenses, such as one in the amount of R$ 10,378.21 for payment of “taxes”, with the name “Arthur” next to it.

Also on the list is a payment of R$ 4,500 linked to “Arthur” for “Hilux overhaul”. As shown to Sheetthe Lira campaign used the same Hilux pickup truck used to deliver money in Maceió in the 2022 election.

Last year, when Lira ran for election to renew his deputy mandate, Luciano donated his car — a VW Amarok — to be used in the campaign. In the notes obtained by the investigators, there is a description of expenses for the revision of an Amarok in February of this year.

There is also an annotation of the purchase of tires for a Saveiro vehicle. Lira declared that she had a Saveiro in her provision of goods to the Electoral Justice in the last elections.

Expenses related to the Official Residence of the President of the Chamber, noted with the initials “RO”, add up to at least R$ 60 thousand. In some of them, it is also stated that Luciano would have paid with his card.

Of this total, just over R$ 24,000 were registered between March 29 and 30 of this year. Lira promoted a party at the Official Residence on March 29 of this year, when she received dozens of politicians.

Two payments have as reference, for example, the phrases “Drinks, Dinner, Mayors” and, next to it, “RO, Wanderson card”. Wanderson de Oliveira is Luciano’s driver.

The PF also found notes of values ​​​​related to the name “Arthur” with this driver, a case revealed by piauí magazine that points to 11 payments with a total of about R$ 265 thousand between April and May 2023.

The largest values ​​of operations in the document obtained by Sheet are BRL 100,000: there are four operations with that amount each, all in March of this year. In two payments only the name “Arthur” appears twice and in the others the name “Arthur” is accompanied by “Galego Casa Fazn”.

Lawyer André Callegari, who defends Luciano, says that he did not “have full access to the investigation records and steps already taken, which prevents any manifestation, since the motivation for the operation that was launched is not known”.

The investigators’ monitoring reached a couple of alleged operators. The PF filmed cash withdrawals and delivery of values ​​in several cities. On May 17 of this year, the police filmed a cash delivery at a hotel in Brasilia used by Luciano.

The sequence of images obtained by the investigators shows from Luciano’s departure from the hotel, the return of his driver with the Corolla used by him, the arrival of the couple and the delivery of valuables inside the garage.

Earlier, in January, investigators arrived in Luciano after the couple appointed as money deliverers went to the capital of Alagoas. In Maceió, they visited Luciano’s house and used a Hilux pickup.

The vehicle is in the name of Murilo Nogueira Júnior, also the target of the investigation, but it is at Luciano’s residence in the capital of Alagoas.

Luciano was still part of the WhatsApp group of which Megalic’s partner was a part. The police investigation also discovered that the owner of the company transferred R$ 550,000 to the builder of Luciano’s house.