The agreement sealed between the former mayor of () and opened space in municipal management for a nominee of federal deputy Juninho do Pneu (PSDB), accused of money laundering in the purchase of land that belonged to the militiaman, a former PM who died in 2020.
The mayor (PSD), an ally of Paes, appointed on Monday (4) Thiago de Souza Pereira, Juninho’s former chief of staff, as municipal secretary of Solidarity Economy. The act was signed on Thursday (30), the same day that the PSDB publicly declared support for the former mayor in his pre-candidacy for the state government.
Juninho do Pneu was denounced in Operation Legado, launched in March. It investigates Adriano da Nóbrega’s money laundering and the allocation of his assets after his death.
According to the Public Ministry, the deputy acquired two rural properties from Adriano that were in the name of an orange man. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the transaction was made in cash and for a value above the declared amount. One of the payments, according to the accusation, took place within a Military Police battalion.
The deputy stated that “the purchase was at market value, through a real estate agent who has worked in the region for decades.”
“As for the sellers, they were not people who aroused suspicion. The parliamentarian does not know and does not and has never had any relationship with the aforementioned criminals. All of Juninho do Pneu’s commercial relationships are carried out within the law and declared to the Federal Revenue Service. So much so that the Public Ministry itself ruled out in the complaint that he has no connection with organized crime,” the statement said.
In a statement, Rio de Janeiro City Hall stated that Pereira was a PSDB nominee.
“The nominee passed the rigorous screening of the Municipal Integrity Secretariat and all documentation was duly evaluated, with the nominee being fit and in compliance with the criteria required by the public administration”, stated the Cavaliere management.
Contacted through his press office, the national president of the PSDB, Aécio Neves, did not comment on the case. Paes also did not respond.
Pereira was appointed as part of the agreement for the PSDB’s support for Paes’ pre-candidacy. The event that sealed the alliance was attended by Aécio. They were also in meeting Juninho do Pneu and Cavaliere.
The deputy is currently a defendant in a criminal action in which he is accused of helping to launder money from people who managed the estate of Adriano da Nóbrega, who died in 2020 during a police operation to arrest him in Bahia.
The transaction, according to the investigation, was entirely carried out with Julia Lotufo, widow of the former PM, and Luiz Carlos Felipe Martins, known as Orelha, PM who died in 2021 and who provided services to the couple.
Investigators found dialogues about the entire transaction on Orelha’s cell phone, seized when he was murdered.
According to the accusation, Juninho do Pneu acquired two pieces of land in Cachoeiras de Macacu, a city in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, which belonged to Adriano, but were in the name of an orange man. According to the MP-RJ, the deputy handled the negotiations with Lotufo and Orelha through a broker.
The complaint states that there is evidence that the PSDB deputy purchased the properties for R$3.5 million paid in cash and with the transfer of at least two cars. The Prosecutor’s Office states that the property’s purchase deed records the price of R$800,000.
The payments were made throughout 2020, when Juninho was already a federal deputy. The accusation states that the land was placed in the name of the parliamentarian’s father, although he was responsible for the entire transaction.
The MP-RJ states that Juninho do Pneu was not part of Adriano’s criminal organization, but was aware of irregularities in the transaction.
Adriano da Nóbrega became nationally known for his links with the senator (PL), the former president and Fabrício Queiroz, linked to the Bolsonaro family since the early 2000s. They deny involvement in the ex-PM’s crimes.
According to the MP-RJ, Adriano started working, at least since 2008, as a hired killer, militia leader and controller of Jogo do Bicho areas, among other illegal activities.
This is not the first case of Paes’ alliances with suspected militia involvement. In October 2023, the former mayor appointed former deputy Chiquinho Brazão as secretary of Community Action. He was exonerated in February of the following year, a week after the release of ex-PM Ronnie Lessa’s accusation, naming him as one of those responsible for the murder of councilor Marielle Franco.
In his place, the Republicans nominated federal deputy Ricardo Abrão, from the same political group as Brazão. After Brazão’s arrest, the mayor dismissed the former deputy’s allies, as well as the substitute secretary.
