The real estate transaction used by the deputy, leader of the Chamber, for his residence in Brasília was only made official at a notary’s office almost two weeks after the action of the .
The deed of sale for the house in Ituiutaba (MG) was signed on December 30th. The act was drawn up 11 days after, on December 19th.
The sale was pointed out by Sóstenes as the origin of the cash. He said he kept the funds at home due to lack of time to deposit them. The cash resources were seized during the execution of a search warrant as part of the investigation investigating embezzlement.
The deputy told the Sheet that the transaction took place on November 24, when a private contract between him and the buyer was signed. According to Sóstenes, this document provided for the signing of the deed by the end of the year.
The deed signed on December 30th cites the private contract mentioned by Sóstenes. However, it does not list this agreement among the papers presented to the notary at the time of the deed. The deputy said he will present the document in his defense to Minister Flávio Dino, rapporteur for the investigation of the case at the (Supreme Federal Court).
The deed shows that it was signed with unusual exceptions for documents of this type. The transfer tax was not collected before the act. Furthermore, the buyer waived the need to present the property’s municipal tax certificate and civil and criminal certificates from the deputy at the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice.
The buyer of the property was lawyer Thiago de Paula, who works in Ituiutaba, Uberlândia (MG) and Barueri (SP). The property was sold for R$500,000, paid in cash. When contacted, he did not return to the reporter’s contact.
The transaction generated an increase in value of 78% in relation to the R$280,000 paid by the deputy to the former owners of the apartment in February 2023, according to the transaction deed.
Sóstenes states that the increase in value was due to the renovation he carried out on the house. According to the deputy, it was initially announced for the value of R$ 690 thousand, after evaluation by the city’s brokers.
He also states that he paid R$310,000 for the property, and not R$280,000 as described in the deed. The difference, according to him, is the R$30,000 commission paid to the broker. The deputy settled the transaction via bank transfer, according to the document.
The PL leader declared that he received the money from the sale in Brasília, taken by an employee of Paula.
“I know many lawyers in Ituiutaba who even pay their fees in cash, at the till. In the countryside, it’s a very common transaction, especially because they want a discount, to pay cheaper because they’re going to pay in cash, in cash. It’s a more common operation than many people think. It’s not common in big cities, especially because of the risk of robbery. So, it didn’t raise any problems for me because there was nothing illegal”, said the deputy.
Months before acquiring the property, when registering his candidacy with the Electoral Court in 2022, Sóstenes had declared a . He states that he took out a loan to purchase the property in Ituiutaba, a city in Triângulo Mineiro.
According to the deputy, elected by Rio de Janeiro, the purchase of the property was made to serve as housing for relatives who live in Ituiutaba. He said he lived for ten years in the city, where the woman also has family.
“I had bought the house as a business opportunity, to help a family member, who moved to Uberlândia. Upon moving, I decided to sell the property”, said the deputy.
The operation in which Sóstenes’ money was seized aimed to deepen investigations into suspected embezzlement of public resources from parliamentary quotas, according to the corporation.
The parliamentary quota is a monthly amount that deputies receive to cover expenses incurred during the term of office, such as office rental in the state, airline tickets and car rental, among others.
The suspicion expressed by the police in the case files is that a car rental company hired by the deputies and paid through the parliamentary quota continued to receive money even after being irregularly dissolved.
In addition to Sóstenes, deputy Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ) was also the target of search and seizure. Both deny the suspicions.
