Euclydes Pettersen is cited as “Hero E” in spreadsheets; Federal Police requires million-dollar bail and electronic monitoring
The PF (Federal Police) attributes to the federal deputy (Republicanos-MG) the receipt of at least R$ 14.7 million in transfers linked to the Conafer (National Confederation of Family Farmers and Rural Family Entrepreneurs) embezzlement scheme, investigated in .
The amounts, according to the representation sent to the STF (Supreme Federal Court), were transferred in fractions by companies controlled by the financial operator Cícero Marcelino de Souza Santos, appointed as responsible for laundering and distributing the resources diverted from undue discounts applied to the benefits of retirees and pensioners from the INSS (National Social Security Institute). Here is it (PDF – 363 KB).
The PF states that Euclydes was identified in the organization’s internal spreadsheets as “Hero E”. The congressman, according to the report, received monthly payments through companies used to move illicit money – including Fortuna Loterias and Construtora VLH Ltda. The financial flow coincides with periods of release of payment batches from the INSS (National Social Security Institute) to the Technical Cooperation Agreement signed with Conafer, described in the report as a “criminal organization.”
The investigators report that the transfers were intended to provide political protection for the entity, acting to avoid inspections, reduce the risk of suspension of the agreement and maintain the group’s access to the INSS structure. The representation says that Euclydes “he was the best paid person on the bribe list”.
The material sent to the Supreme Court mentions the role of the deputy’s advisor, André Luiz Martins Dias, who allegedly operated part of the transfers on behalf of the congressman, and the participation of another advisor, Walton Cardoso Lima Júnior, also mentioned as a beneficiary of amounts related to the political core of the scheme.
The PF requests precautionary measures against the congressman, including electronic monitoring and bail of R$14.7 million, an amount corresponding to the minimum amount allocated to the congressman. The report says that, if the bail is not paid, it may be necessary to leave office.
The entire investigation – which attributes to Conafer the embezzlement of more than R$640 million, according to an expert report – describes a structure with political, financial and operational cores. The president of the confederation, Carlos Roberto Ferreira Lopes, is appointed as leader of the organization, while public officials, businesspeople and congressmen form the network responsible for maintaining illicit transfers and ensuring the fraud operates.
Euclydes Pettersen supports the work of the authorities and said that he stands “at your complete disposal to provide all necessary clarifications”.
He stated: “I reiterate that every operation represents, for some, an end, and for others, a release. I have already been the target of two operations: in one of them, I was acquitted, and in the other, the Judiciary did not even receive the complaint, due to lack of evidence to prove any criminal practice”.
The PF launched the 4th phase of the Sem Desconto operation on Thursday (13.Nov.2025), which investigates a scheme of irregular discounts on INSS benefits. The new stage was authorized by STF minister André Mendonça, rapporteur of the case, and 9 people.
10 preventive arrest warrants, 63 search and seizure warrants and other precautionary measures were served in 15 states and the Federal District. The former president of the INSS was arrested. In addition to Pettersen, the former Social Security Minister José Carlos Oliveira and the state deputy (PSB-MA) were search targets.
The president of the CPMI (Mixed Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) of the INSS, senator (Podemos-MG), on Thursday (13.nov) announced the new phase of the No Discount operation “put the main nucleus in jail” of the retirement and pension diversion scheme and that “there’s still a lot of dirt to sweep up”. According to him, new arrests and operations will be carried out in the coming weeks.
The vice-president of CPMI, federal deputy (PSD-MA), that the arrests and searches carried out by the PF and the CGU (General Comptroller of the Union) in the new phase of the Sem Desconto operation “show that no one is above the law”.
