The Civil Police carried out an operation this Monday (1st) at addresses linked to “” and at a São Paulo City Hall secretariat, as part of an investigation to determine whether there were irregularities and deviations from a municipal contract and whether the resources went to the team of the feature film that deals with the life of the former president (PL).
Authorized by the TJ-SP Guarantee Court (Court of Justice of São Paulo), the operation stems from a police investigation into a R$108 million contract between the ICB (Instituto conhecimento Brasil), chaired by Karina Ferreira da Gama, and management () for the provision of free Wi-Fi to needy communities.
The police searched the headquarters of , the producer of “Dark Horse” owned by Karina, at another of her addresses, at the ICB and at the headquarters of the Municipal Department of Innovation and Technology. The operation also targeted four other firms related to the provision of the service.
The city hall stated that it “cooperates with ongoing investigations and remains at the disposal of the authorities, having already provided information”, and Nunes said there was political persecution. The Civil Police is linked to the management of (Republicans), who are allies of the mayor and the Bolsonaro family.
The report did not locate Karina. In recent days, she has declined to comment on the suspicions, but previously, she denied that the film about Bolsonaro had received money from Brazilian people or companies, whether public or private. He also said that the hiring by the city hall took place on a regular basis, with no connection to “Dark Horse”.
The Civil Police opened the investigation following a request from the Public Ministry, originally to investigate evidence from the institute. The investigation deals with the crimes of frustrating the competitive nature of the bidding procedure, fraud in the execution of an administrative contract and irregular use of public funds or income, all provided for in the Penal Code.
Police officers were in the (northern zone), early in the morning, and at the address that houses the production company and the institute, on Avenida Paulista. At city hall, the targets were the offices of the Innovation and Technology department, on Líbero Badaró street (center).
In addition to investigating whether Karina’s entity was irregularly hired by the Nunes management, for a price above the market price, the police are investigating the suspicion of payments without the services being provided.
According to the police, the elements of financial intelligence collected indicate a potential occurrence of illicit cross-financing, with resources being sent from the institute to the producer, since there are “consistent suspicions of patrimonial confusion [entre o instituto e a produtora] and that public resources from the ‘WiFi Livre SP’ program have been diverted to pay for the production activities of the aforementioned film”.
In the contract with the Nunes management, each Wi-Fi point made available by the institute cost R$1,800. The Civil Police states that Prodam, a public municipal technology company, provides identical services at a cost of R$230 for implementation per point and R$306 for monthly maintenance.
Search and seizure warrants were executed at eight addresses. The operation tries to find out whether the ICB used cold invoices and invoices to justify expenses covered by the city hall.
Four of these invoices, which totaled R$8.5 million, were issued by Make One Lab, a technology company with 37 years of experience, located in Alto da Lapa (west zone).
According to the court decision that authorized the operation, the invoices were “without issuing the respective invoices or corresponding tax collection”, in addition to having “sequential numbering, the same date of issue and due date” and “artificially fractionated values, suggesting possible documentary assembly to justify illicit outflows of financial resources”.
A Sheet contacted Make One Lab by phone. The attendant wrote down the contact details for the report, but did not respond afterwards.
Another operation considered suspicious by the police involved the presentation of invoices that had been canceled by the issuing companies, Complexsys Soluções Integradas, in Vila Mariana, south of São Paulo, and JR Feijão, based in Ceará, which totaled R$2.4 million.
In the case of the São Paulo company, the notes were canceled on the same day of issuance, but were used by the ICB in the reporting of the contract with the city hall.
The report tried to contact the two companies, via telephone in their records with the Federal Revenue, without success. Although it cited the company from Ceará in the police investigation, the Civil Police requested search and seizure authorization only at Complexsys.
The business expansion of Karina, Secretary of Culture in the Bolsonaro government and who is also responsible for the production of the film “Dark Horse”. The parliamentarian did not respond to the Sheet.
Between September 2024 and April this year, Complexsys received R$154,000 from the deputy’s office, resulting from support services for the maintenance of a parliamentary office, according to the Chamber of Deputies’ Transparency page.
The ICB did not directly provide the Wi-Fi hotspot installation service provided for in the contract with the city hall. The entity’s work was to mediate the hiring of two other companies, which worked in the technology sector and carried out the service.
Both companies, Urban Connect and Ultra IP, in Jardim Paulista and Guaianases, respectively, also had the search and seizure authorized by the Court.
In the case of Urban, the report was unable to contact the company. The available telephone number is the city hall’s own internet service service channel. Ultra IP was contacted via the customer service channel via WhatsApp and an attendant informed that the company would return, which also did not occur until the publication of this text.
In a note, the Civil Police stated that “the Instituto conhecimento Brasil is the main target of the investigation” and that the searches were for documents and electronic equipment “that could contribute to the advancement of investigations”.
The police had already asked the Court for access to and from the producer as part of the investigations.
In the note released this Monday (1st), the Nunes management says that “all the requested material” had already been made available to the authorities and is publicly accessible through the municipality’s accountability.
It also states that, of the 3,200 contracted Wi-Fi points, only 52 were offline this Monday and were undergoing maintenance. According to the city hall, the hiring of the Instituto Saber Brasil followed the principles of legality, transparency and economy and, when the public call took place, in 2024, “there was not even production of the mentioned film”.
The senator (-RJ), pre-candidate for President, asked for resources to finance “Dark Horse” from .
The Intercept Brasil portal revealed that for the feature film. The Federal Police are investigating whether part of the money was used for Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) in the United States.
