The focus of the investigation on suspicions related to Fábio Luís da Silva, the , caused a split between investigators working on the case.
Subject to reservations, some of them see the option of going after President Lula’s (PT) son as a change in the direction of the investigations and believe that, to date, there is not enough evidence that he has committed irregularities.
Therefore, they believe that the investigation should focus on fraud and conclude the most advanced cases, in addition to advancing plea agreements that bring new evidence.
Despite the divergence, there are still points to close in the investigations involving Lulinha. A, who was a friend of the president’s son and had business with lobbyist Antônio Carlos Camilo Antunes, known as o, will testify this Wednesday (20).
It is expected that they will question whether she had acted as an intermediary in transactions that, according to authorities, involved Lulinha and Careca. The PF raised the suspicion that Lulinha had been a hidden partner of Careca.
Lulinha’s defense has always denied that he committed any illegality, and Roberta’s also claims not to have done any business related to INSS discounts.
Throughout the investigations, a series of differences of understanding had already emerged regarding Lulinha’s investigation. Most of the conflicts were exposed in opposing demonstrations by the Federal Police and the (Attorney General’s Office).
The PF asked, for example, to break Lulinha’s confidentiality. The PGR, however, did not see enough elements for the measure and expressed itself against it. The minister, who is the rapporteur of the case at the (Supreme Federal Court), authorized the procedure at the beginning of the year.
The police also asked for an electronic ankle bracelet to be installed on Roberta Luchsinger. Mendonça ordered electronic monitoring, despite the PGR, which did not see any clarity in the suspicions about her.
At the time, the minister said that there was abundant documentation in the investigations that indicated that Luchsinger used shell companies to receive resources from Careca, without any documentation capable of attesting to the services performed.
The divergence, however, was not restricted to the two bodies and the minister. Even within the Federal Police, there was caution never to formally treat the son of the President of the Republic as an investigator, and part of the corporation argued that he should not be investigated.
In the midst of these clashes, the Federal Police of Sem Desconto. They were assigned to the General Coordination of Finance Police and went to Cinq (Coordination of Inquiries in Superior Courts), which is within the General Coordination of Repression of Corruption, Financial Crimes and Money Laundering.
The PF argued that the change was made to provide greater “efficiency and continuity to the investigations”, with a better structure, and that the teams and delegates working in the investigations remain the same. The change, however, raised suspicions among congressmen and led Mendonça to demand explanations about the situation.
The PF’s decision received divergent reactions. Although some of the people following the investigations saw the possibility of pressure on the investigations, another part considered the direction appropriate and that the change will give more consistency to the development of the cases.
When the change in coordination was announced, last Friday (15), the PF said in a note that “the transfer [dos inquéritos] was designed to ensure greater efficiency and continuity in investigations, since Cinq has a permanent structure focused precisely on conducting sensitive and complex operations pending before the Supreme Court.”
“It is worth noting that there was no change in the team conducting the investigations.”
Lulinha’s lawyer, Marco Aurélio de Carvalho, has stated that the president’s son “was not even called” to provide clarification in the investigation, because he is not being investigated. He says he made himself available to Minister André Mendonça for clarification.
It also says that part of the case should have been closed “after the criminal leak” of part of the investigation to the press.
Roberta Luchsinger’s defense, led by lawyers Bruno Salles and Leonardo Palazzi, states, since the beginning of the investigations, that her client and her company “prospect and intermediate business with national and foreign companies”. They add that she was approached in 2024 by the Careca company from INSS “to work on regulating the cannabidiol companies sector”.
“It should be clarified that the business only remained in initial negotiations and did not prosper. It should also be clarified that the aforementioned negotiations took place before the revelations of the deviations of INSS discounts and the participation of Antônio Carlos Camilo Antunes in the investigations.”
