The senator (), pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, stated this Monday (6) that the investigations into the case of “rachadinha” in his former office at Alerj (Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro) are “foam” and were an orchestrated attack to destroy his reputation.
Investigations into the case were closed after the STF (Supreme Federal Court) and the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) annulled the evidence collected in 2021. The filing left a series of open questions about Flávio’s financial transactions before reaching the Senate.
The senator was denounced in 2020 by the Attorney General’s Office on charges of leading a criminal organization for his own benefit. The suspicion was that the practice diverted R$6 million of public resources from Alerj.
In an interview with the Intelligence Ltda podcast, Flávio sought to disassociate himself from the accusations.
“[Houve] all this foam, all this attack to try to destroy my reputation, and no criminal proceedings were ever initiated against me. Do you know how many financial connections you have with my advisors? Zero. Do you know how many advisors said I charged back a salary to employ them in my office? Zero”, said the senator.
When asked about his former advisor Fabrício Queiroz, the center of the “rachadinhas” scandal, Flávio also tried to distance himself and stated that he had the autonomy to make payments.
“Queiroz took care of part of my consultancy that worked on the streets, did leafleting, events, and had autonomy over these people […] He said that, from some people he had employed, he charged part of the salary, but obviously he did not have my agreement. He says I never knew about it.”
Queiroz deposited R$25,000 in cash into Flávio’s wife’s account a week before the couple paid the first installment on the purchase of a penthouse under construction in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro, according to data obtained by the Public Ministry after the senator’s bank secrecy was breached.
In 2020, Flávio even admitted that Queiroz also paid his personal bills.
In the podcast, the senator also stated that the accusations were a “narrative” that emerged shortly after the .
Despite the closure of the investigations, there are still open questions about Flávio’s financial transactions.
The MP-RJ investigation showed that a large part of the senator’s expenses were paid with cash, despite the fact that he did not make withdrawals in a corresponding volume and, until 2014, did not have any declared source of income outside of parliamentary activity.
In addition to the payment made by Queiroz, the Prosecutor’s Office also identified a series of cash deposits in Flávio’s account on dates prior to the payment of installments for the purchase of properties, which totaled R$281,500.
The investigation also pointed out the use of cash to pay taxes, airline tickets, health insurance and schooling for the senator’s daughters.
