The Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Flávio Dino responded to (PGR) and ordered the partial archiving of the investigation that investigates suspicions of misappropriation of public resources during the Covid-19 pandemic in Roraima, in the section involving senator Chico Rodrigues (PSB-RR). The parliamentarian was caught with money in his underwear in a Federal Police operation in October 2020, having been indicted by the Federal Police (PF) in 2021.
The minister’s order fully accepted the Public Ministry’s requests and determined that part of the process will go to the archive, while the other will continue in lower courts, such as the Federal Court in Roraima. Among the archived investigations is the one involving the resources found with the senator in the operation.
“It appears that, from the perspective of the PGR, there is no reason to continue the ongoing investigation of these cases before the STF”, he declared.
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According to Dino, “it is also observed that the decline of jurisdiction so that the Federal Court of Roraima can continue the investigations in relation to the other facts was also requested by the PGR, highlighting, in the end, the possibility, in view of possible developments in the investigations, that the case may be returned to the STF as provided for by law”.
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The PGR’s statement was presented to the minister on December 28, and covers episodes that, according to the PGR, did not provide the minimum evidence to justify the continuation of the investigation. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the filing must cover the suspicion of an attempt to conceal valuables during the execution of a search and seizure warrant at your residence.
For the PGR, the elements collected did not demonstrate “sufficient criminal typicality” to support the accusation on this point. The alleged use of parliamentary advisors in demands of private interest, related to the operation of a political support office and business structures linked to the parliamentarian’s family nucleus, was also included in the request for archiving.
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“The initial construction that linked the Senator of the Republic Francisco de Assis Rodrigues to these events — based on the circumstance that the hirings were, in theory, backed by amendments of his authorship — does not hold up in light of the development of the investigations”, wrote the Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet.
The investigation originated in 2020, based on reports from a former director of the Roraima Health Department, and led to the launch of Operation Desvid-19. When the PF operation was launched, the senator was caught with R$33,150 in his underwear. The parliamentarian always denied irregularities, stated that the money would be used to pay employees and explained that he hid the amount after panicking.
Due to this investigation involving suspected embezzlement during the pandemic, the senator ended up being indicted by the Federal Police in 2021.
Another section that the PGR proposes to archive concerns the alleged irregularities in the transportation of personal protective equipment acquired by the Roraima Health Department from the company Quantum Empreendimentos em Saúde. According to the statement, there was no factual confirmation that Brazilian Air Force aircraft were activated, nor were any minimal signs of misuse of purpose or illicit favoritism for the benefit of the senator or third parties identified.
In addition to the request for partial archiving in relation to Chico Rodrigues, the PGR defended sending part of the investigation to the Roraima Court. According to the statement, the remaining facts that do not involve authorities with jurisdiction in the Supreme Court must be dismembered and sent to the first instance, to determine any responsibilities of businesspeople and state public servants. For the PGR, maintaining these excerpts in the STF is not justified after delimiting the scope of the conduct attributed to the senator, and it is up to the local Court to continue the investigations within its competence.
