The Director General of (Brazilian Intelligence Agency), Luiz Fernando Corrêa, who was nominated by Lula (PT), gave testimony to this Thursday (17) in the context of the so-called “parallel Abin”, which investigates the alleged illegal use of the agency in the government ().
Corrêa’s testimony lasted about five hours. The former deputy director of Abin Alessandro Moretti, fired by Lula in January last year, was also heard.
The duo was summoned to give explanations. Prior to the testimonials, investigators were already seeing enough elements to imply Corrêa and Moretti by obstruction of justice on charges of disturbing investigations.
Politically, the possible indictment of Lula’s head of intelligence creates embarrassment for the federal government and raises the tension between ABIN and the PF, whose directors compete in behind the scenes since the transition in 2022.
The outbreak of a new chapter of the dispute between Corrêa and the director general of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, would also expand pressure on the president, at a time when the government faces other thorny themes, such as ministerial reform, budget cuts and articulation about the amnesty bill.
Lula established as a criterion for his team o. This was the case of Juscelino Filho (communications), accused of corruption. The president has never mentioned assistants who occupy other posts.
The completion of the PF should be included in the final report of investigations into the parallel Abin, scheduled for next week. The evidence will then be analyzed by whom it is up to decide whether it offers a complaint to the court, asks for more investigations, or archives the case.
The episode can also further expose the Planalto Palace in the face of the revelation of ABIN’s alleged hacker action against high -ranking Paraguayan authorities amid negotiations on the Itaipu plant.
President Lula summoned Corrêa and the PF Director-General after the case was revealed. According to reports, the audience was tense and was even interpreted as an interim between Corrêa and Rodrigues.
The possible indictment of Corrêa also raises the temperature at the agency. ABIN servers evaluate to disclose a note asking President Lula to exchange the director-general-who would be unheard of.
Corrêa was sought after this Thursday’s testimony, but did not respond until the publication of this text.
Throughout the investigation, the PF claimed to have gathered testimonials and documentary evidence and techniques that raise the suspicion that Corrêa and Moretti acted to make it difficult to investigate the case – which originated in the Bolsonaro government. Investigators also indicate that Abin acted out of law in its intelligence activities.
The agency denies, claiming to have collaborated in the investigation and answered all requests from the investigators. Behind the scenes, he states that the PF has adopted a distorted line in an attempt to politically wear out the current direction of the organ and force an exchange in charge.
The investigation had as its starting point the revelation that ABIN used the Firstmile espionage software during Bolsonaro management to illegally monitor government disaffected. The inquiry to investigate the case was initiated in March 2023, while during Lula’s term.
One of the points raised is the decision, made by ABIN’s management in April last year, to format computers used during Bolsonaro management.
In testimony given to the Federal Police in December, to which the Sheet He had access, an Abin server also stated that the agency’s direction-general asked him to map computers in which Firstmile had been used in the Bolsonaro government.
The intelligence officer said that about 15 computers were identified, but that “ABIN’s Directorate-General determined that only five (5) computers were sent” to the PF. Asked, he said he did not understand “why not all stations were sent.”
Another point presented was a meeting in March 2023 in which Moretti would have stated that the investigation had “political background and would pass”. This statement was played by the PF as an attempt to minimize the severity of the facts and influence the investigated.
The testimony that quotes the sentence, however, but to the “Directorate-General”. At the time, the PF stated that there was a possible “collusion of part of the investigated with the current high management of ABIN”.
Intelis, an association that represents the agency’s servers, has made harsh criticism of the PF. The association condemns the leakage of confidential data and says there is the “improper expansion of the investigative scope for topics outside the PF’s legal competence”.
The association also accuses the PF of expanding the “parallel Abin” inquiry to delegitimize intelligence activity and serving political interests.
“It is inadmissible and harmful to the purposes of a large nation such as Brazil that a campaign for the disbelief of its intelligence service is led, not by adverse foreign actors, but by groups from the national public administration itself.”
