The Federal Police identified a set of political, business and functional relationships around senator Weverton Rocha (PDT-MA) in the scheme of fraudulent associative discounts applied to INSS retirements and pensions. According to the investigation, the senator had benefited from diverted resources and was “leader and supporter of the business and financial activities” of Antônio Camilo Antunes, known as “Careca do INSS”, a key player in the scheme.
“The Federal Police also highlights that the main people being investigated maintained close ties with political agents, especially a Senator of the Republic, who would appear as the ‘political support’ of the criminal operation, which increased the group’s capacity for influence and institutional shielding,” stated Minister André Mendonça, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), in the decision that authorized the operation.
The police representation informs that the parliamentarian would have acted as “final beneficiary (‘hidden partner’) of financial operations structured by the criminal organization, receiving resources or benefits through interposed people, some of his parliamentary advisors”.
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One of the main characters linked to the senator’s surroundings is businessman Gustavo Marques Gaspar, who was Weverton’s advisor between 2019 and 2023 and is considered the parliamentarian’s right-hand man behind the scenes, as described in the police representation. The PF points out that he was a member of the “political-institutional core” of the criminal organization, with a relevant role in money laundering, asset concealment and political articulation of the scheme.
The PF reports that Gaspar was appointed senior parliamentary assistant in the leadership of the PDT by Weverton himself, when the senator was leader of the bench, and that he had “the capacity for institutional articulation and insertion in decision-making environments of political importance”, which “expanded his potential for action in the illicit scheme”.
The decision also mentions records of bribe payments worth R$100,000 in favor of “Gasparzinho”, identified in spreadsheets seized from Careca’s INSS home, which would be for Gustavo Gaspar.
The investigation also shows that he was together with Careca from INSS in the office of the former executive secretary of the Ministry of Social Security Adroaldo Portal. The server was fired from his position on Thursday after being the target of the operation.
Adroaldo is another figure with a link to Weverton. He worked as an advisor to the senator from 2019 to 2023. Subsequently, Adroaldo held management positions at the Ministry of Social Security until reaching position number 2.
The PF also describes financial movements considered suspicious involving Adroaldo, his son Eduardo Portal and a chief of staff at the Ministry of Social Security who was also an advisor to Weverton. Eduardo has served as an intermediate parliamentary assistant in the senator’s office since June 2023.
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In a statement, the senator stated that he “received the search at his residence with surprise” and will collaborate to “clarify the facts, certain that the truth will prevail and his innocence will be fully recognized.”
“I fully trust the institutions and the Democratic Rule of Law, reaffirming my respect for the work of the Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Supreme Court. I emphasize that the Court’s decision is clear in recognizing the absence of evidence that links me to illicit practices or the receipt of irregular resources. Professional relationships of third parties cannot be used to attribute responsibility to me without concrete facts”, he said, in the text.
Prison
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Despite assessing that there is “strong evidence” of the senator’s participation in the scheme, the minister denied the request for Weverton’s arrest as he considered it would have “drastic effects”. In the decision, he highlighted that the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) was against preventive detention, indicating that “the evidentiary panorama presented is based on inferences that have not yet been consolidated”.
“To date, no direct link has been demonstrated between the parliamentarian and the execution of illicit conduct, nor the receipt of illicit amounts. The simple fact that former advisors were recipients of amounts does not automatically authorize the extension of responsibility to the holder of the mandate without a robust factual basis that binds it. It is not stated that there is no possible illicit practice, but that, at this moment, the available elements are weak to support it”, pointed out the MPF.
