The senator () once again said he was innocent and classified as a lie the suspicions raised in the operation he was investigating linked to .
In a political event this Saturday (27) in Barreiras, a city in western Bahia, Wagner cited a phrase he heard from President Lula (PT) when he spoke to him in the midst of the political crisis.
“I’m very calm. President Lula likes to say: ‘Galego, the only one who knows what you did is you.’ I know what I did and I will deny the lie that they are trying to build against me. I’m going to dismantle this lie”, said the PT member.
Afterwards, the senator stated that Lula “suffered a much greater injustice” when he was imprisoned for 580 days as part of the Lava Jato operation, the evidence of which would be annulled in 2021.
He also said that his priorities are to prove his innocence and help re-elect Lula and the governor of Bahia, Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT), in addition to re-electing himself to the Senate and helping to elect former minister Rui Costa (PT) to the House.
Jerônimo once again made a public defense of Jaques Wagner and classified the suspicions that fall on the senator as unfair.
“It’s very unfair. In fact, they want to get Lula first and they use us all the time to beat Lula. Then they get a person who is our asset. In Wagner’s history, you have never heard, in 20 years, any type of taint here in Bahia that could pose a risk to him saying that he is dishonest”, he stated.
Jaques Wagner left his position as leader of the government this Wednesday (24). He resisted the idea of leaving government leadership, but said there was a “common agreement”. His departure was finalized after a two-hour meeting with the president (PT).
The Operation Compliance Zero phase launched by the PF last week investigates suspicions of passive corruption, active corruption and money laundering. In addition to Wagner, targets were Augusto Lima and Eduardo Sodré Martins, Wagner’s stepson and government secretary (PT-BA).
Investigators identified a payment of R$3.5 million from a company linked to Lima to Wagner’s “family nucleus”, which, according to the minister, rapporteur of the Master case at the STF, is evidence of closeness between the parliamentarian and the senator.
Wagner would also have received an apartment from Lima valued at R$2.5 million, in addition to free travel on jets linked to Master, and tickets to attend a show by an “international singer” in Los Angeles, in 2023.
At addresses linked to the senator, Federal Police agents (around R$471 thousand, in current values).
One day after leaving the leadership of the government in the Senate, Jaques Wagner complained to Lula about the role of the Federal Police in the operation of which he was the target, particularly the disclosure of items seized in the apartment where he lives in Brasília.
For him, the release of the images violated the guidance of the minister, of the (Federal Supreme Court) — which determined that the search and seizure should take place “discreetly” due to the “secretive nature of the investigation”.
In the interview, Wagner admitted to having a relationship with businessman Augusto Lima, Master’s former partner, and stated that he did not know the governor or mayor.
He revealed that the amounts paid by Banco Master to his daughter-in-law’s company and argued that the money had legal origins.
