The Federal Police are investigating alleged misappropriation of public resources arising from the parliamentary quota to which federal deputies Sóstenes Cavalcante (PL-RJ) and Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ) are entitled to exercise their mandate. Agents carried out search and seizure warrants, this Friday, at addresses linked to the two to investigate an alleged irregular payment scheme, based on false contracts with car rental companies.
A year ago, when parliamentarians’ advisors were targeted in an operation, the GLOBO showed that Sóstenes’ spending on car rental represented almost double the average value declared by other parliamentarians, according to a survey on the Transparency Portal of the Chamber of Deputies. Throughout 2024, the parliamentarian’s expenses exceeded R$137.9 thousand, while the average expenses of other deputies in this category was around R$76.8 thousand.
The Quota for the Exercise of Parliamentary Activity (CEAP) was established by Bureau Act 43/2009, which unified the compensation amount (in force since 2001), the air ticket quota and the postal-telephone quota. This is a benefit paid monthly to deputies to cover “typical expenses” for serving in office, such as renting a support office in the state, airline tickets, food, car rental, fuel, among others.
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Deputies benefit from the amount through reimbursement or debit of the quota amount. If you don’t use all the money for the month, the balance rolls over to the following month. However, it is prohibited to accumulate funds from one financial year to the next.
In total, there are seven search and seizure warrants, determined by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), executed in Rio and the Federal District. At an address linked to Sóstenes, in Brasília, agents found R$430,000 in cash.
According to the PF, “political agents, commissioned employees and private individuals would have acted in a coordinated manner to divert and subsequently hide public funds”.
On social media, and “evidence fishing”. Sosthenes was contacted, but has not yet spoken out.
The report found that the embezzled money was sent to shell companies. The group then promoted the laundering of resources. The two’s advisors moved millions, according to the investigation.
Developments
A year before carrying out the operation that targets the leader of the PL in the Chamber, Sóstenes Cavalcante (RJ), and deputy Carlos Jordy, the Federal Police carried out search and seizure warrants against the deputies’ advisors.
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The operation at the time was called “Rent a Car” in reference to the alleged scheme, in which a vehicle rental company was used to simulate service provision contracts. According to the investigators, public agents and businesspeople had signed an “illegal agreement to divert public resources from parliamentary quotas” through this practice.
Survey carried out by GLOBO in December last year showed that Sóstenes’ spending on car rental in 2024 represented almost double the average values declared by other parliamentarians.
Over the past year, the parliamentarian’s expenses exceeded R$137,900, while the average expenses of other deputies in this category was approximately R$76,800.
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Carlos Jordy’s expenses with car rental were R$65.4 thousand, below the general and acronym average.
