Videos held by the Piauí Security Secretariat show , former advisor and one of the closest allies of the senator (PI), president of , on international trips with the main people investigated by , which is investigating the infiltration of the fuel market in the state.
Paiva was the target of a search and seizure, but was not found at his residence by the Civil Police. He will give testimony next week, when he will be questioned about his relationship with the alleged leaders of the scheme. The former advisor is not on the list of those being investigated for the operation.
When contacted by the Panel to comment on his relationship with Linhares and the operation, the senator declined to comment. The report was unable to contact the former advisor.
In the videos, Linhares appears with businessmen Haran Santhiago Girão Sampaio and Danillo Coelho de Sousa, former owners of the HD gas station chain, which is identified by the police as the nucleus of the alleged money laundering scheme for the PCC, in addition to tax fraud and crimes against the consumer, such as fuel adulteration.
In a statement to the Civil Police, Haran, Danillo and their wives denied involvement in irregularities.
In one of the videos, from February 2023, they appear playing games and dancing inside a jet. In another, from July 2024, they appear on a street in Italy, in a relaxed tone.
According to a report by , Linhares received R$230,000 from Haran Sampaio. The transfer would have taken place through an account opened by the former advisor at , a fintech that became one of Carbono Oculto’s main targets in São Paulo.
According to the Piauí Public Security Secretariat (SSP-PI), the group used a complex structure of shell companies, investment funds and fintechs to launder money and defraud the sector. The scheme would have generated around R$5 billion.
Until recently, Linhares held the position of municipal secretary of Institutional Coordination of Teresina, from which he was dismissed two days before the start of the operation. The Piauí Civil Police leaked privileged information, as the Panel showed.
The behavior of Haran Sampaio and Danillo Sousa reinforced the suspicion. The first traveled to São Paulo and the second to Brasília on the eve of the operation. They were approached by police at airports.
Furthermore, empty watch boxes were found in the targets’ homes, which raised suspicions that they had been rushed and hidden.
Linhares worked in Ciro Nogueira’s office between 2018 and 2019 and in the leadership of the PP in 2020. The senator is also the godfather of one of the former secretary’s daughters.
A July report showed that Linhares received R$625,000 from Fernando Oliveira Lima, Fernandin OIG, a businessman in the online betting sector and friend of Ciro Nogueira, between December 2023 and September 2024. In the same period, Linhares transferred R$35,000 to the senator’s personal account.
Nogueira told the magazine that the amount was a refund for a hotel reservation in Capri, Italy, and that the R$625,000 was payment for a luxury watch, negotiated directly between the businessman and his former advisor.
The senator from Fernandin OIG, target of the CPI das Bets, of which Ciro Nogueira himself was an alternate member.
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