Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), authorized the sharing of evidence produced in the criminal action on “nucleus 2”, or management nucleus, of the coup plot. The material will be forwarded to the Federal Highway Police (PRF), which requested access to the documents to support an internal administrative disciplinary procedure.
As informed by the PRF to the STF, the process investigates the possible role of three federal highway police officers as directors of the private security company Combat Armor Defense, in an activity considered incompatible with the position. They would have been hired by the company Arbitrium Empreendimentos e Soluções Ltda.
The corporation seeks documents related to the financial transactions of those involved, including bank statements, financial intelligence reports and other records that may demonstrate possible payments made by the companies to the employees under investigation.
The PRF justifies that the final report of the Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) established to investigate the coup acts of January 8, 2023, mentions the two organizations.
“The CPMI report alludes to an alleged money laundering ‘scheme’ to transfer bribes arising from the contract for the acquisition of armored vehicles nicknamed ‘caveirões’, making it possible to assess bank accounts of companies and their partners, RIFs or other documents that can prove the real destination of these amounts”, stated the PRF.
When authorizing sharing, Moraes noted that the Supreme Court has a consolidated understanding according to which evidence produced in investigations and criminal proceedings can be used to inform other procedures involving the same people being investigated.
The minister highlighted that “the constitutional guarantee of contradictory proceedings and the impossibility of using borrowed evidence as the only element of conviction for the judge” must be observed for a possible decision in the case.
Core 2 of the coup plot
The CPMI report is part of the criminal investigation into nucleus 2 of the coup plot, which includes the former director general of the PRF, Silvinei Vasques. The investigation found his conduct at the head of the corporation. The action resulted, in December last year, in the conviction of five of the six accused as members of the management group of the attempted coup d’état.
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The First Panel of the STF convicted Silvinei, Filipe Martins, Mário Fernandes and Marcelo Costa Câmara for the crimes of armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, attempted coup d’état, deterioration of listed property and damage qualified by violence and serious threat to the Union’s property.
The former director of Intelligence at the Ministry of Justice and Public Security Marília Ferreira de Alencar was convicted of attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law and an armed criminal organization.
According to the complaint, Silvinei Vasques and Marília Alencar used the PRF and the structure of the Ministry of Justice to benefit former president Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 elections. They requested intelligence reports to set up operations that would make it difficult for voters in the Northeast, the historic stronghold of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), to vote.
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