Carlos Bolsonaro’s office paid R $ 7 million to employees suspected of being ‘ghosts’, says report | Rio de Janeiro

The amount was not updated due to inflation and appears in a letter that is attached to the prosecution’s investigation against Carlos Bolsonaro for embezzlement, when a public official embezzes money for his own use.

The new documents were obtained with GloboNews exclusivity this Friday (4).

Camera transparency

The Chamber’s website does not show which employees work in the offices of the 51 councilors. It is only possible to see a list with the names of all the servers, with a title that appears in codes.

The base salary of each one is shown on another screen, where it is not possible to see the name of the employees or the detail of the bonuses of each one. It is also not possible to know who the server works for.

In a note, the personnel department of the Rio Chamber informed GloboNews that every server, upon being hired, must deliver a photo and make their credential. However, the Chamber itself recognizes that not all employees do this and admits that it does not even inspect whether or not these employees have made their credentials.

Who are the so-called ‘ghosts’

The server who received the highest salaries was Guilherme Hudson: almost R $ 1.5 million in 10 years. He drove to another city every day to take his wife to study, for a total of 5 hours round trip.

The deputy determines at what time he fulfilled his duties as a server. In testimony, he said that his role was to provide legal advice and analyze the constitutionality of the bills presented.

He also said that he believes he “exchanged very few emails” with Chief Carlos Bolsonaro in 10 years and that he “has no documents stored” since he was employed.

Guilherme Hudson assumed the position of chief of staff previously held by his cousin, Ana Cristina Siqueira Valle. She is the ex-wife of President Jair Bolsonaro (non-party).

Among the 11 employees whose salaries were reported by the Chamber to the MP, Ana Cristina is in the fifth position of the highest amounts received, with a total of almost R $ 670 thousand.

Student Ananda Hudson, whom Guilherme Hudson took to college every day, was also part of Carlos Bolsonaro’s office. Their salaries totaled more than R $ 117 thousand in one year and five months.

R $ 1.5 million to deliver brochures

The GloboNews report also showed reserve military officer Edir Barbosa Goes, who remains an advisor to the councilor. In testimony, he told prosecutors that he delivered monthly and quarterly newsletters in the West Zone of Rio about the councilman’s activities.

Deliveries, according to the statement, were made door-to-door and also in rows of banks. He told prosecutors that he did not have copies of the brochures.

To distribute brochures, Edir received almost R $ 1.5 million in 11 years. The last salary reported by the Chamber to the MP was R $ 17 thousand, in May of last year.

“I think even his role would be unnecessary (…) It is even a contempt, a provocation”, says Gil Castello Branco, general secretary of the Associação Contas Abertas.

Of these 11 servers, only 5 are on the control list for the delivery of credentials provided by the Chamber to the Public Ministry. The server fills in the name of the person removing the identification by hand. Some names are unreadable; in others, there is a rubric or signature.

A resolution by the Board of Directors freed commissioned employees from appearing in the House, but all must have their insignia.

Elderly woman does not know her position

Prosecutors found evidence that the practice was already established in Carlos Bolsonaro’s first term in 2001.

In the report, they cite senior officials who live in other municipalities or states, which makes it impossible to fulfill their functions, according to the investigation.

One of the contractors was Diva da Cruz Martins, 72, a resident of Nova Iguaçu. Diva was filled between 2003 and 2005, that is, in the first and second terms, in the councilor’s office and received R $ 3,000 per month.

“I did not know anyone. I’d go back and forth, I don’t even know who worked there. I don’t even know who was employed and who wasn’t, ”he said.

Diva was unable to tell prosecutors her job title. She said in testimony that “her job” was “to go to the City Hall once a month, get brochures and distribute them to the people of the Nova Iguaçu Center.”

Nova Iguaçu is another municipality in the state of Rio, although Carlos Bolsonaro’s voters are from the capital.

Globonews sought the defense of Carlos Bolsonaro, who declined to comment because the investigation is being kept secret.

Lawyer Jeferson Gomes, who defends Guilherme and Ananda Hudson, said that all the necessary clarifications have already been provided to the Public Ministry and that his clients have never committed any illegal act.

Globonews was already at Edir Góes’ house, but he made it clear that he would not comment.

Ana Cristina Valle’s defense says that the value cited in the report refers to several employees who worked for almost 20 years in Carlos Bolsonaro’s office and that there is no indication that Ana Cristina was a ghost employee.

In a note, the Rio City Council said that, since 2010, it has a transparency portal so that any citizen has full access to all data related to parliamentary activity and that the number of officers, commissioners and subcontracted workers, nominal list of employees and wages.

The Chamber also clarifies that the Law on Access to Information leaves the competence of its regulation to each power and that it establishes that the disclosure of employee salaries is done through tables. It also says that the transparency portal, available on the institution’s website, also includes values ​​for paid functions or commissioned positions and specific amounts, such as additions and perks.

Finally, the Rio City Council says that it reaffirms “the commitment to publicity and information transparency, as a fundamental principle for the improvement of democracy.”

The reporting team was unable to contact the others named in the report.