MPF names Ceciliano as ‘protagonist’ in corruption scheme led by Witzel | Rio de Janeiro

Appointed as head of the scheme, Wilson Witzel (PSC), was removed from the post of governor of the state due to irregularities and deviations in health. Lieutenant Governor Cláudio Castro, who is taking office, was the subject of a search warrant.

Removal is one of the decisions of the Operation Tris in Idem (“Three of the same”, in Latin), which until the last update of this article had detained seven people, including Pastor Everaldo, president of the PSC, and former secretary Lucas Tristão.

The governor and eight other people, including the first lady Helena Witzel, were also denounced by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) for corruption.

In the MPF’s evaluation, the new corruption scheme is related to the Cadeia Velha and Furna da Onça operations. The two investigations resulted in the arrest of eight parliamentarians.

The target of search and seizure warrants, Ceciliano saw, on Friday, federal police officers enter his home in Barra da Tijuca, in his office in Alerj, in addition to being forced to hand over his phone.

The MPF’s conclusions are based on the award of the former Secretary of State for Health, Edmar Santos, who also participated in the agreement.

Edmar said that the strategy to divert public money was presented by the president of Alerj. The plan consisted in the diversion of leftovers of the twelfths of the Legislative Power, cashier of the assembly.

The money from Alerj would be transferred to the state coffers under the pretext of financing the municipal health departments.

In addition to Edmar and Ceciliano, then-Governor Wilson Witzel, Lieutenant Governor Cláudio Castro, Secretary André Moura and deputies Rodrigo Bacellar (Solidariedade) and Márcio Canella (MDB) also participated in the agreement.

According to prosecutors, the money was very useful, apparently legal, until it became a bribe in the hands of those involved.

The plan began in Alerj, which returned the surplus amounts of its budget to the state treasury. From the single Treasury account, the money would go to the specific account of the State Health Fund.

Then, the amounts were divided between the municipal health funds indicated by the deputies. Finally, part of Alerj’s budget surpluses were returned to parliamentarians as a bribe.

Only in 2019, Alerj made two “donations” to the state, which together added R $ 106 million.

Associated municipalities in the scheme

The path of money only came to an end when the bank accounts of the partner municipalities of the politicians involved in the scheme were found.

According to the MPF, it was André Ceciliano who indicated to Edmar Santos the municipalities that would receive the state budget. São João de Meriti, municipality of Baixada Fluminense, for example, was a partner. Gelson Azevedo, Ceciliano’s ally, is the mayor of the city.

Investigations say that the city received, throughout 2019, just over R $ 11.5 million. In the first five months of 2020, the municipality received more than R $ 13 million from the State Health Fund.

In Carapebus, the difference would be even greater. The city has received less than R $ 70 thousand in recent years. But only in April 2020, the local city received R $ 5 million.

The situation was repeated in Campos dos Goytacazes. Throughout 2019, R $ 900 thousand were transferred to the municipality. But a single transfer made in November of that year, the amount jumped to approximately R $ 11 million.

The cities of Bom Jesus do Itabapoana and São Fidélis, in the North Fluminense Region, were also identified by investigators as a possible destination for the embezzled money.

For prosecutors, the elections for cities in the north of the state of Rio de Janeiro make sense, since one of the suspects in the scheme was Congressman Rodrigo Bacelar, who is the leader of the Solidarity party in the region.

The same occurs with the election of the city of Campos, where Bacelar and Ceciliano himself have political interests.

In another excerpt from the complaint filed by the MPF, prosecutors again cite the award-winning suppression of Edmar Santos. At this point, he talks about Social Organizations (OS) and how they fit into the scheme.

According to Edmar, the SOs that received government contracts were already committed to making positions available to political candidates.

The complainant informed the MPF that 10% of the positions in UPA and hospitals could be offered to alternate members. The objective would be to obtain political support for the government.

The person in charge of mediating these agreements would be the former secretary of government and former chief of staff of Witzel, Cleiton Rodrigues. The role was also played by André Moura, another former secretary.

Edmar Santos also said that OS Lagos, OS Mahatma Gandhi and OS Idab accepted CVs and employed officials appointed by the parliamentarians.

In a statement, the defense of the president of Alerj said he did not know the reasons for the search and seizure of his offices in the building on Rua da Alfândega and in the annex, “but he is calm with the measure and has put his office at the disposal of the agents of the PF. in the Tiradentes Palace, which was not included in the order “.

Ceciliano reiterates his trust in the Justice and affirms that he is willing to collaborate with the authorities and help overcome this serious moment that, once again, Rio de Janeiro is going through. It also deposited its banking, tax and telephone secrets at the disposal of the authorities. ”

Deputy Márcio Canella said, also by note, that “he has the duty to request resources and improvements for the poorest population, in the case of Baixada Fluminense.”

“The complainant himself says that he has not delivered the funds and never mentions any non-republican attitude on my part. What cannot be admitted is criminalizing the legitimate actions of the parliamentarian,” said Canella.

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