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RIO – Operation Catarata II, carried out this Friday, brought strong names among those suspected of being part of the diversion scheme in social assistance contracts in the state of Rio. At this stage, the first was the State Deputy and current Secretary of Education the State, Pedro Fernandes; the businessman Flavio Salomão Chadud; his father, retired PCERJ delegate Mario Jamil Chadud; and the former director of financial administration of the Leão XIII Foundation, João Marcos Borges Mattos. They all had orders carried out in the morning. The former councilor and former federal deputy, Cristiane Brasil, appeared to the police in the early afternoon.
Prison:‘I only got impoverished in politics’, declares Cristiane Brasil when presenting herself to the Civil Police this Friday
The targets of Cataract II this Friday appeared after the investigations delved into the “political core” of the fraud scheme between 2013 and 2018. In the first phase of the operation, carried out in July 2019, only Flavio Chadud was already mentioned in the investigations. The continuation of the analysis of the contracts signed through false tenders brought new names, such as Pedro Fernandes, as pointed out in a survey O GLOBO had access to in August of this year.
See who is involved in Operation Cataract II:
Pedro Fernandes
The name of the Secretary of Education of the state of Rio, Pedro Fernandes (PSC), appeared in the report of the Civil Police in July of this year. It is suspected that he participated in the bribery scheme of the León XIII Foundation. At that time, in 2017, while he was in charge of the Science, Technology and Social Development portfolio, Fernandes was also responsible for the agency. Since then, he would maintain influence in the nomination of positions, such as that of Sérgio Bernardino Duarte, who adopts the political name of Sérgio Fernandes (PDT), a former state deputy, who presided over the foundation.
Understand: What is known about the investigation that led Pedro Fernandes to prison
The members of the scheme called Pedro Fernandes “boss”, points out the investigation of the Investigation Unit to Combat Corruption and Money Laundering of the Civil Police of Rio and the Public Ministry, to which GLOBO had access. The implication was reinforced after the data in a notebook seized with the businessman Marcus Vinícius Azevedo da Silva (partner of the Rio Mix 10 company) and the dialogues found on his cell phone.
Pedro Fernandes comes from a family of politicians and, between 2010 and 2019, he was twice elected state deputy and twice held the position of Secretary of State for Social Assistance and Human Rights, once in the government of Sérgio Cabral, from February to April. 2014, and another with Luiz Fernando Pezão, from January to February 2017. He left office to take on the Science, Technology, Innovation and Social Development portfolio.
Remember:Pedro Fernandes is the third member of the Govendo Witzel to be arrested
In January 2019, he received an invitation from Wilson Witzel to take over the State Department of Education and migrated to the Social Christian Party (PSC), as did the governor. Now the secretary is on the absent secretary list.
Pedro Fernandes was the subject of a search and seizure order and another arrest warrant. However, he is temporarily detained at his home, in Barra da Tijuca, for having tested positive for Covid-19. But you will still have to undergo a new exam to prove the diagnosis.
João Marcos Borges Mattos
Former right-hand man of Pedro Fernandes, businessman João Marcos Borges Mattos is a former ally of the secretary. He was even in charge of the Executive Secretariat of the portfolio until May of this year. João Marcos is the former director of financial administration of the Leão XIII Foundation and appears as a member of the “political nucleus” of the scheme, along with Cristiane Brasil, Pedro Fernandes and Sergio Fernandes. In investigations by the Civil Police, the businessman is the “JM”, present in a notebook where the transfer of bribes to public agents was recorded. The document was seized in the home of businessman Marcus Vinicius Azevedo da Silva, detained in Operation Catarata last year.
Obstruction:MPRJ believes that there may have been a leak from the operation that detained Pedro Fernandes and Cristiane Brasil
In August this year, João Marcos was denounced by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on suspicion of paying bribes to the governor through transfers to the office of the first lady, Helena Witzel. According to financial data obtained by the PGR, the Quali Clinicas company transferred R $ 102 thousand to the first lady’s law firm.
Flavio Salomão Chadud
In four auctions, a profit of R $ 66 million. This amount would have been received by the couple Flavio Salomão Chadud and Marcelle Chadud, as indicated in the first phase of Operation Catarata, carried out in July 2019. They are owners of the company Servlog Rio, which would be the center of fraudulent contracts for programs of social assistance in the State of Rio. The couple was arrested in the first stage, and Flavio was again targeted in the second.
On social media, Flavio wore a life of luxury and family trips. In Operation Catarata I, close to R $ 4 million were found in a single bank account of the businessman. On the occasion, the investigators also found R $ 60 thousand in a duvet, a registered pistol and a speedboat, which was seized at the home of a couple in Angra dos Reis.
Servlog Rio, led by Flavio Chadud, has already been shortlisted to win the fraudulent contracts. To camouflage the system, false auctions were held, with a previously agreed value. The headquarters still functioned as the “headquarters” for paying tuition fees.
Mario Jamil Chadud
The retired delegate Mario Jamil Chadud is the father of businessman Flavio Salomão Chadud and became the target of Catarata II for trying to hinder the investigation in the first phase, in 2019. Moments before the arrival of the teams that would carry out the search and seizure in the headquarters of Servlog Rio., his son’s company, was there and withdrew cash, computers and documents, according to reports from the Public Ministry.
Understand:Former delegate tried to hide documents, computers and R $ 100,000 in cash
According to the complaint, the headquarters functioned as the group’s “HQ” and the delivery point for tuition fees, which varied between 5% and 25% of each contract. The amount was paid in cash to public servants and political agents responsible for the municipal secretariats and the Leão XIII State Foundation, according to the MPRJ.
Cristiane Brazil
Daughter of politician Roberto Jefferson, a whistleblower from Mensalão, former federal deputy Cristiane Brasil was municipal secretary for Healthy Aging and Quality of Life at the time Servlog Rio was hired to execute the Qualimóvel municipal project, for the amount of R $ 20 million.
Cristiane Brazil: From ‘muse of the Third Age’ to almost minister, recalls the trajectory of Roberto Jefferson’s daughter
According to the investigation, the former federal deputy received bribes from the scheme in cash, deposits in third-party checking accounts and payment of personal expenses. The investigation showed that it received transfers from the group’s “headquarters”, Servlog Rio headquarters, in Barra da Tijuca. While he was in charge of the portfolio, he had Marcus Vinicius Azevedo da Silva, who was arrested in the first phase of the operation last year. He turned himself in to police on Friday afternoon and pleaded not guilty.
Marcus Vinícius Azevedo da Silva
Businessman Marcus Vinícius Azevedo da Silva, former assistant to Lieutenant Governor Cláudio Castro (PSC), is one of the 25 accused of being part of the bribery scheme. With the first phase of Operation Catarata, the Rio Mix 10 partner was arrested between July and August 2019 for fraud at the Leão XIII Foundation. In September of this year, he signed an award-winning agreement with the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on embezzlement of funds in contracts and also denounced federal deputies from the Rio de Janeiro bench.
Marcus Vinícius is close to the acting governor. He worked in Claudio Castro’s office at Rio 2017 City Council until he left Parliament to become vice president on the Wilson Witzel ballot. Castro has been responsible, since the beginning of the government, for the management of the Leão XIII Foundation, the focus of the alleged fraud denounced by Marcus Vinícius. However, the acting governor was not named in the investigations.
The second phase of the operation, according to the investigations, highlights that Marcus Vinícius, in addition to being responsible for the Rio Mix 10 society, worked in the Municipal Secretariat for Healthy Aging and Quality of Life together with the then councilor and federal deputy Cristiane Brasil and in the Municipality of Councilors of the Rio de Janeiro City Council, being the right hand of Flavio Chadud.
