Illegal Monitoring
Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court, authorized a search and seizure operation against the former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) Alexandre Ramagem, currently a federal deputy for PL, and federal police officers involved in an illegal espionage scheme promoted during the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
Alexandre also prohibited those being investigated from accessing PF facilities
According to the Federal Police, Abin monitored authorities — including STF ministers —, journalists, lawyers and police officers when the body was headed by Ramagem. The agency would also have been used to monitor the prosecutor responsible for investigating the murder of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and to prepare reports in favor of senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) and Renan Bolsonaro.
The investigation also points to the monitoring of lawyer Roberto Bertholdo, who is said to be close to former federal deputies Joice Hasselmann and Rodrigo Maia, considered to be Bolsonaro’s political opponents.
“The highlighted federal police officers, under the direction of Alexandre Ramagem, used ABIN tools and services for illicit services and counterintelligence and to interfere in various Federal Police investigations, for example, to try to prove in favor of Renan Bolsonaro, son of then president Jair Bolsonaro”, says Alexandre in the decision.
One of the lines of investigation points out that Alexandre himself, in addition to minister Gilmar Mendes, also from the Supreme Court, were monitored by Abin during Bolsonaro’s government. The PF also identified notes with content that sought to associate members of the STF with the criminal organization Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC).
“The Federal Police identified the existence of a criminal organization, in accordance with art. 2nd of Law No. 12,850/2013, with the aim of illegally monitoring people and public authorities, invading devices and computers, in addition to the telephone infrastructure, and pointed out the existence of several distinct nuclei within the criminal organization, all responsible for executing criminal offenses” , continues Alexandre.
According to the minister, there are indications that the monitoring was intended to interfere in several investigations by the Federal Police.
In addition to Ramagem, the searches targeted 11 other people linked to the monitoring scheme. Police officers Carlos Afonso Gonçalves were removed from their positions; Marcelo Araújo; Charlemagne de Deus Rodrigues; Felipe Arlotta; Henrique César Prado Zordan; Alexandre Ramalho; and Luiz Felipe Barros Felix.
Those being investigated were prohibited from accessing Federal Police facilities, maintaining contact with other people under investigation and leaving the Federal District without authorization, in addition to having lost access to PF systems.
The Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, spoke out in favor of the searches. “These events reveal the existence of what the representation calls a parallel Abin, used to collect sensitive data on authorities and political agents,” said the PGR.
Click here to read the decision
Click here to read the PGR statement
PET 12.027