Messages found on cell phones seized in the investigation into the diversion of amendments in Maranhão put the Federal Police on the pursuit of the senator Eduardo Gomes (PL-TO). The “fortuitous encounter of evidence” led PF to request an independent investigation of his possible participation in the amendment trade. The inquiry was opened in August 2024, but only now came public, with the survey of confidentiality of the emendary operation.
In a statement, the senator reported that all the individual amendments indicated by him were destined to Tocantins, which he was elected. “The only individual amendment for another state went to Rio Grande do Sul to serve the calamity that plagued the state, in the amount of R $ 1 million reais. Resources intended for other states were made at the time of being a sector rapporteur of the budget, meeting parliamentarians of these states. ”
The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) issued a favorable opinion to the establishment of the investigation. The Deputy Attorney General of the Republic Hindemburgo Chateaubriand called for the “autonomous petition assessment intended for preliminary diligence”.
When faced with the messages, Deputy Roberto Santos Costa, responsible for Operation Emendário, defended a new investigation to “close the facts”.
“Because the episodes fortyly found do not correlate with the amendments investigated here, the Federal Police understand that, except for better judgment, the facts must be clarified in new surveys,” the delegate wrote in a report sent to the Federal Supreme Court at the end of 2023.
The messages that implied the senator were exchanged among Carlos Lopes, parliamentary secretary of Deputy Josimar Maranhãozinho (PL-MA), denounced in Operation Emendário, and Lizoel Bezerra, former advisor of the senator, in 2022. According to PF, Lizoel charges a total R $ 1.3 million and asks for the payment of at least R $ 150 thousand.
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“Give me a position. Man is in agony. Pay bills and travel, ”writes the former advisor of Eduardo Gomes. “Only account for tomorrow has 76 kkkk. See at least 150. Because of the trip. ”
The PF believes that the “agonized” man is the senator. This is because Lizoel Bezerra sends to Carlos Lopes a print of a conversation with a saved contact like Eduardo Gomes.
The next day, the Senator’s former advisor again charges Carlos Lopes. “Good morning Carlos. Some news. The van (sic) arrived? ”Says Lizoel Bezerra. The secretary responds that “nothing has come, both in mind and on the floor.” For the PF, the expression “on the floor” is a reference to the payment of cash in kind.
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Eduardo Gomes was the leader of the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the Senate. In 2019, he was one of the following year’s budget rapporteurs.
