The Public Ministry of the State of Rio de Janeiro (MP-RJ) denounced, on the 5th, seven people accused of participating in a corruption scheme that allegedly took place in the councilor’s office, between the years 2005 and 2021.
According to the MP-RJ, Jorge Luiz Fernandes, Carlos Bolsonaro’s former chief of staff, would have created a “rachadinha” scheme — when a civil servant is co-opted to pass on part of his salary back to the politician who hired him.
Jorge Fernandes would have used his influence and proximity to the Bolsonaro family to obtain the appointment of the other defendants. According to the MPRJ, the group embezzled at least R$1,700,000.00.
The complaint indicates that the Rio councilor’s former chief of staff used a specific bank account to manage the embezzled amounts.
In addition to Jorge Fernandes, the group was also made up of six other civil servants appointed to advisory positions in Carlos Bolsonaro’s office during the period investigated. They were:
- Juciara da Conceição Raimundo da Cunha;
- Alexander Florindo Baptista Junior;
- Thiago Medeiros da Silva;
- José Francisco dos Santos;
- Andrea Cristina da Cruz Martins;
- Regina Célia Sobra Fernandes.
A CNN contacted Fernandes and is awaiting a response. The report tries to locate the others involved.
MP files investigation against Carlos Bolsonaro
The 3rd Public Prosecutor’s Office and Specialized Criminal Investigation of Rio de Janeiro concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the accusation of criminal practice against Carlos Bolsonaro for the alleged practice of “rachadinha” in his office.
“Although there is evidence that the advisors were not carrying out their working hours correctly, without the proper provision of services, it was not possible to identify any evidence of a crime, only an administrative infraction, which makes the facts atypical from a criminal point of view” , says the text of the archiving petition.
In a statement, Carlos said that he received the information calmly about the closure of the investigation, which, in his words, served “for narratives and attacks against my reputation” and demonstrated “the non-existence of the facts and my innocence”.
“I express indignation at the news of the accusation against some members of my office. This accusation is based, mainly, on financial transactions carried out between family members and between some people who, as far as I know, were not even heard by the Public Ministry, despite investigating around 20 years of their lives”, continued Carlos Bolsonaro.
