STF investigates deputy’s family for alleged laundering – 11/05/2023 – Power

A development by Covid’s CPI resulted in the opening of an investigation by the STF (Supreme Federal Court) into suspicions of money laundering and passive corruption involving federal deputy Fausto Santos Jr. (União Brasil-AM).

The files were distributed on October 30th to Minister Dias Toffoli and placed under judicial secrecy.

The investigation, which was initially being processed at the STJ (Superior Court of Justice), was opened at the request of Omar Aziz (PSD-AM), a senator who in 2021 presided over Covid’s CPI.

Aziz raised suspicions about the alleged favoritism of the TCE-AM (Amazonas State Audit Court) counselor Yara Amazônia Lins Rodrigues towards companies that worked in the health of Amazonas during the pandemic in exchange for undue advantages.

Yara, who has jurisdiction at the STJ, is the main person being investigated, but the case has progressed to her family. One of them is her son, Fausto Santos Jr., who took office in the Chamber of Deputies this year.

The deputy was associated with suspicions related to Yara after information from financial reports from Coaf (Financial Activities Control Council) showed suspicious movements in his account.

The decision for the investigation to be transferred to the STF was made by STJ minister Antonio Carlos Ferreira, who responded to a request from the Federal Public Ministry on October 5th.

“The evidence shows the collusion of family members of the Counselor under investigation to conceal and dissimulate the amounts obtained through criminal practice (money laundering), particularly the relevant participation of Fausto Vieira dos Santos Júnior”, said Deputy Attorney General of the Republic Carlos Frederico Santos in the request to the STJ.

Wanted by Sheetdeputy Fausto Santos Jr. stated in a statement that “there is no evidence of crime, but rather that of possible political persecution” in light of the context in which he found himself at the time.

In the records, Yara also denies having committed any irregularities and says that the investigation uses illicit evidence.

Fausto Santos Jr. was a state deputy before being elected to the Chamber. In 2020, he was rapporteur for the Health CPI in the Amazonas Assembly, after the state experienced a collapse in its public health.

The following year, he was called to testify at Covid’s CPI in the Senate. At the time, the main senators on the commission wanted to know why he had not asked for the indictment of the state governor, Wilson Lima.

After this episode, Aziz filed a request for an investigation against Yara. He said that “it caused a lot of surprise to all senators who are members of Covid’s CPI” that the governor was spared and sent information to the PF that, in his view, pointed to signs of enrichment incompatible with the earnings of Yara, the deputy’s mother.

The senator then attached documents about properties and luxury vehicles that, according to him, would be used by the counselor and her family members and that were not registered in their names.

Aziz also requested an investigation into the counselor’s relationship with companies that provided health services to the state from 2018 to 2021.

With authorization from the STJ, the Federal Police began investigating suspected crimes of money laundering, administrative law and passive corruption.

“The facts reported are sufficient to justify the opening of an investigation, as they demonstrate, in theory, the possibility of criminal offenses occurring”, said minister Jorge Mussi, when deciding to open the investigation.

“In the present case, the criminal report and the documents that support it indicate that there is reasonable suspicion that the assets of Counselor Yara Lins and her family members would be incompatible with their lawful earnings, and that they would use assets registered in the name of third parties to hide its true ownership.” Mussi retired in January this year and was replaced as rapporteur by Antonio Carlos.

Coaf reports on the counselor and her family were added to the investigation.

Regarding Fausto, the agency identified that the then state deputy made suspicious transactions in April 2020, with “a significant amount through an account that had not been used until then or an account that received unusual deposits.”

Furthermore, one of the vehicles that were photographed in front of the counselor’s residence belongs to one of the companies in which favoritism was suspected.

Deputy sees persecution and says he will present evidence of assets

In a note, federal deputy Fausto Santos Jr. states that there is political persecution and that the “mere distribution [ao STF] on account of original jurisdiction does not demonstrate anything in terms of culpability”.

“I am willing to present all the necessary documentation and evidence to the Court in a transparent manner to prove the compatibility of our income with our assets”, he states.

“All the people from Amazonas and Brazil who followed the Senate CPI session, in which I participated, truly know what happened and what I’m talking about,” said Fausto.

When contacted, Yara’s defense did not respond to the report’s request for a statement.

In the case file, her lawyer Vera Carla Nelson Cruz Silveira stated that, in relation to the financial movements of the counselor and her son, Coaf only states “that the negative balance in the latter’s asset compatibility was not documented documented”.

“However, he did not fail to recognize that the difference detected came from a bank transfer originating from his mother’s bank account”, says the defense.

Furthermore, it states that Aziz used illegal evidence — confidential IPTU data — when requesting the investigation from the PF and that, even so, the information does not indicate irregularities. According to the lawyers, the counselor did not favor the companies mentioned in the investigation.