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BRASÍLIA – In his award ceremony, the former Secretary of State for Health Edmar Santos said that the president of the Rio Legislative Assembly, André Ceciliano (PT-RJ), made it clear in a conversation that part of the R $ 100 million donated by Legislative to combat the coronavirus would deviate from a scheme of transfer of values to the municipalities of the interior, under the influence of deputies of the Chamber. The bribery money, according to Edmar, would be shared with then-lieutenant governor Cláudio Castro, who replaced Wilson Witzel in office, and with former secretary of state for the Civil House André Moura (PSC), who now works in the office. representative office in Brasilia.
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Details are in Appendix 31 of the document, obtained exclusively by GLOBO. In this section of the complaint, Edmar says that he was in Ceciliano’s office to attend to the matter. All the movement of resources would be structured on the basis of surpluses in the twelfths of Alerj, amount transferred by the State Treasury to cover the costs of the agency. Given the cash difficulties of the Executive, the Assembly proposed to donate the leftovers. But now, the former Secretary of Health claims to have been a ploy to benefit the Health diversion scheme during the pandemic.
Fight for funds
The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) says that Ceciliano sought out Edmar to ensure that the money reached some municipalities, “demonstrating that the strategy was destined to better serve the spurious interests of the criminal group.”
The money, Edmar said, went from Alerj to the cash register of the State Health Department and, from there, was transferred to the municipalities designated by the parliamentarians. As GLOBO demonstrated in a report published this week, 87 cities benefited from transfers of around R $ 1 million to build detection centers for patients with Covid-19. It is already known that many of these cities did not do the works.
Edmar said he heard from Ceciliano himself that there was a bribery division and that he believes part of these resources were returned in cash to politicians. He related an episode in which he was called by Ceciliano to resolve an impasse. Alerj wanted to send R $ 25 million to the Duke of Caxias, which would be a request from the state deputy Márcio Canella (MDB), but the then secretary André Moura would have warned the president of Alerj that there were no more resources.
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Yelling deputy
Edmar’s testimony, treated as a collaborator based on the complaint, details this meeting in Ceciliano’s office. In it, Canella, according to the former Secretary of Health, enters the room “furious” shouting that “he would leave the government base because he was not treated.” Edmar, however, does not accuse Canella of having received bribes.
Still in Edmar’s version, Canella left the office and, then, the state deputy Rodrigo Bacellar (SD-RJ) was called, who would be Ceciliano’s emissary to address the matter. It was in the presence of Bacellar that the dialogue on the division of bribes would have taken place. In this conversation, Ceciliano expresses dissatisfaction with André Moura and Cláudio Castro, making it clear that the two participated in the illicit scheme, even proposing that he would stop making payments to both and that Edmar would become the sole beneficiary of the securities, if he helped him . Receive the money. Edmar said he left the room without answering whether or not he accepted the proposal.
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Edmar also spoke about a meeting with André Moura in which he asked the then secretary what were the reasons for the rush to release funds and if Witzel was aware of and interested in these transfers to the town halls. According to the former secretary, André Moura answered yes and, at the same time, rubbed his fingers, in a gesture that mentioned money. For him, this implied that Moura would be Witzel’s intermediary and pass illicit resources to him. In his statement, Edmar says that the diversion scheme in Health was installed before the start of the pandemic, in 2019.
In June, Operation Tris en Ídem, determined by the PGR, carried out search and seizure orders at the residences of Cláudio Castro, current acting governor, André Moura and André Ceciliano, but the PGR did not request their dismissal. The Alerj president led the vote on Witzel’s impeachment on Tuesday. The rapporteur for the process was Rodrigo Bacellar.
Castro denies the accusations, as do Witzel and others named
The interim governor Cláudio Castro stated, through his notice, that he does not know the facts denounced by Edmar and denied any involvement with irregularities. Castro assumed command of the state on the 28th, when Wilson Witzel was dismissed by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).
Claudio Castro’s lawyer, Carlo Luchione, says that “Edmar Santos is trying to subvert the legal institutional relationship and the absence of twelfth distribution agreements with the head of the legislative branch.”
Alerj president André Ceciliano, who was also quoted by Edmar, said the accusations are “lies.” According to him, “at every moment new and contradictory versions of the allegation of the defendant Edmar confesses are reported, in a desperate attempt to reduce his sentence.” In a note, the deputy stated that he never met with the former secretary to discuss matters that were not of interest to the Carioca population.
Ceciliano said that despite the fact that the transfers of leftovers of the twelfths from Alerj to health were made “with the sole objective of helping municipalities to face the Covid-19 pandemic.”
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The defense of the outgoing Governor Wilson Witzel, also cited, stated that he “vehemently” denies having received bribes from Alerj’s alleged plan and affirms that Edmar only “intuits” that the funds would be transferred to him, without presenting evidence.
Deputy Márcio Canella affirmed that he always maintained a “republican relationship” with other public authorities. “I have always requested and will continue to ask all the secretaries of state for improvements and dignified services to the entire population of Baixada Fluminense,” he replied.
In a note, André Moura, who now holds the position of Representative Secretary of the Rio government in Brasilia, said that “he is unaware of any alleged scheme mentioned in the guilty plea and denies any kind of participation.” Defense deputy Bacellar did not respond.
Congressman Rodrigo Bacellar stated that his role in requesting funds from the municipalities “has always been aimed at serving the municipalities that have a great need for financial assistance in this area. I acted in a republican manner in defense of the health of citizens ”.
Another complaint on the way
Minister Marco Aurélio Mello, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), ratified the award of businessman Marcus Vinícius Azevedo da Silva, former assistant to the acting governor Cláudio Castro. In the agreement, he reports on a corruption scheme in the León XIII Foundation, an area that was subordinate to Castro when he was deputy governor.
The agreement was signed with the PGR, because it involves parliamentarians with a forum in the STF. Excerpts from the complaint about authorities without a forum in the Supreme Court will be sent to the Rio Justice.
The León XIII Foundation is the target of Operation Catarata, the Public Ministry and the Civil Police of Rio, which detected deviations in the contracts. On the 11th, the then Secretary of Education Pedro Fernandes, the former deputy Cristiane Brasil and businessmen were arrested. The defense of the acting governor Cláudio Castro said that he would not comment because he did not know the content of the complaint. Marcus Vinícius, João de Baldaque Mestieri, declined to comment.
