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RIO – After being captured last Wednesday in a PF operation with around R $ 30,000 and part of the bills between the buttocks, Senator Roraima Chico Rodrigues (DEM-RR), vice president of Bolsonaro’s government in the Senate, said Be calm after the operation that investigates deviations in the application of resources to combat the coronavirus. “I just did my job of bringing in resources to fight Covid-19,” the senator said.
– I have a clean past and a decent life. I have never been involved in scandals of any magnitude. If there have been lawsuits against me in the past, it has been proven in court that I am innocent. In public life it is like that and, during my 30 years in politics, I met many people with bad intentions to tarnish my image, especially in a tumultuous electoral period, as is the case of our capital – he declared in Nota.
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The senator also said he trusted justice and promised to show that he was not involved in the illegal acts. Regarding the PF operation, Rodrigues said that he had his house “invaded by the mere fact of doing my job as a parliamentarian, providing resources to combat COVID-19 in the health of the state.”
– I am not an executive, that is why I am not an ordering party and, as a legislator, I continue to do my part, providing resources for Roraima to develop. That justice be done and that, if there is someone guilty, that he be punished with the rigors of the law – he concluded.
The operation that targeted Chico Rodrigues was unleashed with the authorization of the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Luís Roberto Barroso to investigate millionaire diversions of resources to combat the pandemic destined through parliamentary amendments to the Roraima Health Department.
The information about the seizure was anticipated by the magazine “Crusoé” and confirmed by GLOBO. The senator is a member of the Joint Committee of the National Congress that monitors the execution of resources related to the fight against the coronavirus.
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Fuel spree
The flagrant with money in underwear is not the first irregularity starring Chico Rodrigues. In 2006, when he was in his fourth term as a federal deputy, he was investigated by the House internal affairs department for his high expenses with gasoline and, at that time, he admitted that he presented other expenses as if they were fuel to receive reimbursement , but he was acquitted.
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The case was revealed by GLOBO with a survey that showed that, in the previous year, Chico Rodrigues had spent R $ 174.1 thousand (in values at that time) on gasoline, the fourth largest expense among the deputies. In the first three months of 2006, it spent more: R $ 60 thousand.
– It is not good, but it is the way I have to justify the expense. This amount must be incorporated into salary, released for any expenses, or suspended. Otherwise, the deputy is obliged to carry a counter at his side. The deputy is obliged to do a real alchemy, gymnastics to get compensation. It is the fault of the Chamber … – he admitted at the time, in an interview.
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In the same interview, he admitted that he did not need reimbursement from the House, but added that he would use more, if he had the right:
– I am a businessman and I do not need that money, but what is legal, I do not give a penny. And if I had more, I would use it.
Following the publication of the report, the then mayor, Aldo Rebelo (PCdoB-SP), sent the case to be investigated by the House’s Internal Affairs. Chico Rodrigues, however, took a step back and said he only spent the money on gasoline.
