Operation Overclean, which arrived this Tuesday (13), has already affected mayors, deputies and public servants since it was launched in December 2024.
The actions resulted in scenes of money thrown from windows, stored in drawers and hidden in boots.
The investigation targets the diversion of public resources from and agreements. The scheme would have mainly impacted Dnocs (National Department of Works Against Droughts), a body linked to the Ministry of National Integration, especially in Bahia.
The suspicion is of overpricing in works, fraudulent bids and money laundering, with turnover of approximately R$1.4 billion.
Because of the mention of parliamentarians, the investigation began to be processed by the STF (Supreme Federal Court), under the report of minister Kassio Nunes Marques. Relatives of deputy Elmar Nascimento (-BA) and also deputies Félix Mendonça (PDT-BA), target of searches this Tuesday, and Dal Barreto (União Brasil-BA) have already been targeted.
Remember what happened in the previous phases of the operation.
First phase: Money thrown out the window
In , 43 search warrants, 17 preventive arrests and seizure of assets were carried out in five states: Bahia, Tocantins, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Goiás.
Businessmen and the former commander of Dnocs in Bahia, Lucas Lobão, were arrested, as well as the councilor of Campo Formoso (BA) Francisquinho Nascimento, cousin of deputy Elmar Nascimento, who allegedly threw money out the window during the operation
The scheme involved, according to investigations, overpricing in works and misappropriation of resources. The overpricing would turn into bribes, paid through shell companies or with methods that hid the origin of the resources, whether from shell companies controlled by oranges or through a large flow of cash.
Second phase: vice-mayor of Lauro de Freitas (BA) target
The second phase resulted in ten searches and four arrests, including the vice-mayor of Lauro de Freitas (BA), the Secretary of Mobility of Vitória da Conquista (BA), a lobbyist operating the scheme and a federal police officer who, according to the investigation, passed on confidential information to the criminal group
Third phase: former secretary removed
In the third phase, the STF determined the Education of Belo Horizonte, Bruno Barral, former holder of the same portfolio in Salvador between 2017 and 2020, under the management of ACM Neto (União Brasil), as recommended by the PSDB.
US$11,500, €7,000 and R$7,000 were found with Barral.
The warrants were carried out in Salvador, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Aracaju.
A Sheet later revealed that the mayor of Salvador, Bruno Reis (União Brasil), was a businessman who operates in Ilhéus, in the south of Bahia, and was the target of search and seizure.
In a statement, the mayor said that the real estate project in which the company is involved has no connection with the facts being investigated.
Fourth phase: target deputy and money hidden in drawers
The fourth phase for three municipalities in Bahia, with the breaking of the parliamentarian’s telephone confidentiality, who denied any illegality.
According to investigations, there is evidence that an advisor to the parliamentarian was the main financial operator of the scheme.
The mayors of Ibipitanga (BA), Humberto Raimundo Rodrigues de Oliveira (PT), and of Boquira (BA), Ian Machado França (PSB), were removed, in addition to requests for searches against them.
The former mayor of Paratinga Marcel Carneiro de Carvalho (PT) was also the target of searches and, with him, more than R$1 million were found. Cakes of notes were found in the drawers of the clothes closet and in the office of addresses linked to Carvalho.
Fifth phase: Elmar’s relatives and money in a pair of boots
The focus was on contracts signed in 2022 by the federal state-owned company Codevasf, through parliamentary amendments, with the municipality of Campo Formoso, the city of deputy Elmar Nascimento, which is not the target of the operation.
The targets of the operation were Elmar’s brother, Elmo Nascimento, who is the mayor of Campo Formoso, his cousin, Francisco Nascimento, who is a councilor in the city, the former president of Codevasf Marcelo Moreira, who was nominated by the parliamentarian for the position, and Amaury Albuquerque Nascimento, who was the deputy’s advisor.
During the searches, the PF found around R$10,000 in banknotes inside a pair of boots at an address linked to Francisco Nascimento, Elmar’s cousin.
Sixth phase: deputy from União Brasil targeted
One of the targets of search and seizure in the sixth phase of Overclean was Dal Barreto (União Brasil), which was carried out by the police. In a statement, the parliamentarian denied any irregularities.
In total, eight search and seizure warrants and a precautionary measure other than arrest were executed and amounts allegedly obtained illegally were seized in the cities of Salvador and Amargosa, in Bahia, and in Brasília.
Seventh phase: Dal Barreto’s allies targeted
Six search warrants were carried out and targeted political allies of deputy Dal Barreto (União Brasil – BA): the mayor of Riacho de Santana (BA), João Vítor Laranjeira (PSD), removed by order of the STF, and Wenceslau Guimarães (BA), Gabriel de Parisio (MDB), target of searches.
Eighth phase: target Podemos member
One of the targets was Luiz França, who called himself on social media the national secretary of Podemos.
Five search and seizure warrants were executed in Brasília, São Paulo, Palmas and Guarupi (TO).
Ninth phase: PDT deputy becomes target again
The ninth phase of the operation once again targeted federal deputy Félix Mendonça (PDT-BA). There was a search of the parliamentarian’s functional apartment in Brasília.
The STF also ordered the blocking of R$24 million in the bank accounts of individuals and legal entities being investigated, with the aim of stopping the movement of amounts of illicit origin and preserving assets for eventual repair to the public coffers.
