Pivot of suspicions at Codevasf profited in the Dino government – 03/19/2023 – Power

The businessman known as “Eduardo DP”, hidden partner of Construservice, a contractor that is at the center of suspicions of corruption with funds from the federal state-owned Codevasf (Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco and Parnaíba), maintained political relations in Maranhão with allies by Flávio Dino (PSB).

The company was also one of the biggest beneficiaries of funds for paving works during the period in which the current Minister of Justice, in addition to his vice-president, Carlos Brandão (PSB), governed the state — it received approximately R$ 710 million from 2015 to 2022 .

Investigation by the Federal Police points to suspicion that Construservice paid bribes of R$ 250,000 to a Codevasf manager. In 2022, Eduardo DP, whose name is Eduardo José Barros Costa, was arrested in this investigation.

The businessman appears in at least two photographs with Dino at events in the interior of Maranhão.

Questioned about the relationship of his allies with Eduardo DP and about Construservice’s business with the Government of Maranhão, the Ministry of Justice of the Lula government said that Dino “does not maintain and never maintained a relationship with the mentioned businessmen”.

In October 2021, the then governor posed for a photo alongside Eduardo DP, on the day he would deliver paving works.

Federal deputy Márcio Jerry (PC do B-MA) also appears in the image. He claims that the meeting was “by chance”, “when there was a request for a photo” at the airport.

“Politicians are constantly asked to take pictures at events or on trips. This photo was in Codó, on a trip I was accompanying the governor”, said Jerry.

Dino had already shared the same stage as Eduardo DP in September 2017, in a political act in Vitorino Freire. The current Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho (União Brasil), and other state politicians also attended the ceremony.

There is no record of public support or mention of Eduardo DP in Dino’s speeches.

The political coordinator of Dino’s campaign in 2022, Othelino Neto (PC do B), maintains a friendly relationship with Construservice’s secret partner. Both meet on leisure days in a condominium in Barreirinhas (MA), where they have houses, and have already posed together for photos.

Current head of the Institutional Representation Secretariat of the Government of Maranhão in Brasília, Neto employed Eduardo DP’s wife, lawyer Larissa Torres Costa, in the Legislative Assembly of Maranhão, during the period in which he presided over the body.

As a member of the Attorney General’s Office, the lawyer received R$ 12,200 a month.

Neto is the husband of Ana Paula Lobato (PSB), Dino’s alternate who assumed the position of senator with his departure to the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

“Ms. Larissa Torres is an active lawyer and was appointed to carry out her duties with the Legislative Assembly’s attorney”, said the coordinator of Dino’s campaign. “We have a good personal relationship. That’s all,” he said about Eduardo DP.

Former Secretary of Infrastructure for Dino in Maranhão, Clayton Noleto (PSB) also approached Eduardo DP.

Responsible for signing some of Construservice’s contracts with the state government, Noleto received a statement of support from the businessman for the campaign for the Chamber of Deputies in 2022.

Eduardo DP released his support on social media in July 2022, days before being arrested by the PF, in a photo alongside Clayton. Wanted, Dino’s former secretary did not manifest.

In a note, the Ministry of Justice stated that Dino maintains strictly professional relationships with businessmen from the most diverse segments. He also said that dozens of companies worked on works in Maranhão, carried out through “legal procedures”. “There were more than R$ 10 billion in works in the period mentioned, carried out by different companies.”

“About 2 photos, in public places, the advisory informs that the existing archive of the government period exceeds 110,000 photographs of the former governor with people from the most different social segments, including hundreds of businessmen”, stated the folder.

Construservice increased its revenues in the last years of Dino’s management. About R$ 300 million were paid for paving works in 2020 and 2021, according to data from the state transparency portal.

In the following year, another R$236 million was disbursed to the company. Dino left state government in April 2022 to run for the Senate.

In December of last year, the Sheet asked Dino about Construservice works in Maranhão, during an interview with the former governor on the Roda Viva program.

“During our period there were no complaints at the state level,” said Dino, who had already been chosen for Lula’s Ministry of Justice.

“In each case you have to apply the law. There is no doubt that all these events, when they involve federal money, must be investigated, they will be investigated freely”, he added.

Dino also said that he has no “commitment” with companies or “business friend”. “I never favored, never pursued, this is the correct conduct, in terms of the principle of impersonality.”

Eduardo DP is the son of Arlene Costa, former mayor of Dom Pedro (MA). The businessman even planned to run for public office, but gave up, and has the support coveted by politicians from the interior, say congressmen from Maranhão.

“Eduardo acted politically in Dom Pedro, his city, where his mother was mayor. He doesn’t act politically with me”, said deputy Márcio Jerry.

The businessman was arrested four times from 2015 to 2016 in investigations into loan sharking, corruption and fraud in bids.

One of the operations, carried out with the participation of the Secretary of Security under the Dino administration, was named “Emperor”, one of the businessman’s nicknames.

In July 2022 Eduardo DP was arrested again, this time by the PF, who found BRL 1.3 million in cash, in addition to luxury items, at the businessman’s house. This operation targeted suspected fraud in bids and embezzlement of federal funds from Codevasf.

When contacted, Eduardo DP did not respond to questions about his relationship with Dino’s allies and about Construservice’s contracts with the state government.

The Government of Maranhão also did not manifest itself.