Stab at Bolsonaro: PF under Lula hid operation – 04/19/2023 – Power

Last month, during the Lula (PT) government, the Federal Police carried out a search and seizure operation to try to advance the investigation into an alleged relationship between the criminal faction PCC and the payment of the defense of Adélio Bispo de Oliveira in the case of the stabbing against Jair Bolsonaro, in 2018.

Authorized by the Federal Court in Juiz de Fora (MG), where the then candidate was attacked, the action targeted one of the lawyers who acted for Adélio.

But, contrary to what happens in most cases, the outbreak was not disclosed by the PF communication sector.

Revealed by Sheet this Wednesday (19), the PF investigation is based especially on payments made by suspected members of the faction to one of the lawyers, made two years after the attack.

The report also shows that the current direction of the body sees the line of investigation as inconsistent, in addition to Bolsonarist pressure in the case.

In last month’s operation, the measures, six search and seizure warrants, were carried out on the same day as another operation carried out by the PF in Minas Gerais, against drug traffickers, on March 14.

A Sheet had access to the dispatch of Judge Bruno Savino, from the 3rd Criminal Court of Juiz de Fora. The decision authorizing the searches was given on November 11, after the end of the presidential election.

The main evidence described in the PF investigations, cited by the judge, are the fractional payments of BRL 315,000 made in 2020 to a company in the name of Fernando Magalhães, one of the lawyers for the bank that defended Adélio until the end of 2019.

The possible connection to the stabbing case would be, according to the chief of police, due to the fact that these values ​​​​are close to those quoted by Zanone Oliveira Júnior —lawyer of the bank that led the defense— as being the maximum final cost if they continue until the eventual arrival of the process to the STF (Federal Supreme Court) —from R$150,000 to R$300,000.

“It is reasonable to infer that the fractional payment of BRL 315,000 constituted aid provided by the said faction to cover the fees of the lawyers of the perpetrator of the attack, making use of the resources handled by the aforementioned Sector das Ajudas do PCC”, says the judge of the case, Bruno Savino, in his decision.

In addition, there would be a record in Zanone’s cash book of a payment of BRL 25,000 and the heading “Adélio case”, and a message exchange group between lawyers in the WeChat application with the name “Adélio PCC”.

Internally, at the Federal Police, secrecy in last month’s operation has been justified as necessary to avoid damage to the ongoing investigation and also because the current PF leadership disagrees with the line followed by Chief Martin Bottaro.

For members of the PF leadership, the evidence raised does not support the thesis of the PCC’s connection with the stabbing case.

According to people at the top, by focusing on the alleged relationship between the criminal faction and one of Adélio’s lawyers, the delegate in the case left aside a larger investigation. This movement, for the direction of the PF, is related to the period under the influence of the government of Jair Bolsonaro.

Zanone and his partners left the defense at the end of 2019 and to this day claim to have received BRL 5,000 from a sponsor whose name they never revealed. For PF investigators who participated in the beginning of the investigations, however, the likely hypothesis is that they took up the cause for free, just in exchange for the case’s notoriety.

Conversations in the WeChat group accessed from Zanone’s cell phone revolved around concerns about the fact that Fernando Magalhães had acted in defense of PCC members, report the investigations.

Magalhães denies any relationship with the PCC and says that the payments he received also have no connection with Adélio’s defense.

According to what was written by magistrate Bruno Savino in the search and seizure decision, the thesis on the participation of the PCC in financing the attack “is consistent because the victim, the then candidate for President of the Republic, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, adopted, throughout the election campaign period, a strong speech to combat crime in the country”.

Judge Savino only authorized the measures after a second request from the PF. A first had been denied, before the presidential election, because the magistrate understood that there were not the minimum requirements.

In the first request, the PF listed only the contents of Zanone Júnior’s cell phone as evidence, but did not yet have information on transactions sent by Coaf.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, which had been against the PF’s first request, agreed with searches at the addresses of the lawyer Fernando Magalhães and the partners of the suspected companies.

As shown by the decision that authorized the steps, the MPF states, however, “there is still no evidence that the holders of the five companies used to carry out the bank transfers in favor of FM Costa Serviços Administrativos [empresa de Magalhães] have been associated with the perpetrator of the attack [Adélio] for the purpose of committing the crime.”

In its manifestation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office also asked the Justice that the searches be carried out by the reserve PF “with a view to preserving the image of the targets and in order not to promote fake news”.

The case is under the supervision of the Police Intelligence Directorate, the DIP, commanded since January by Rodrigo Morais. He was the delegate of the investigation into the stabbing and concluded that there was no principal in Adélio Bispo’s action – he was replaced by Martin Bottaro in December 2021, after being appointed to a position in the USA.