The director general of the Federal Police (PF), Andrei Rodrigues, stated this Monday (15) that the institution does not take into account the “political stature of anyone” when investigating deviations in parliamentary amendments and said that “all links” related to the Operation Transparency.
“We will calmly, seriously and responsibly investigate all the links in this process, the participation of anyone. We are not looking at political, economic, cultural, social stature”, said the director of the PF.
Rodrigues received journalists for breakfast at the PF headquarters in Brasília and, after presenting an overview of the year, he was asked about the operation, which was launched last Friday (12) to investigate deviations in the so-called “secret budget”, as the use of amendments that did not allow the identification of the political godfather or the final beneficiary of the money was known, which in theory favors the deviations.
The operation was main target Mariângela Fialek, known as “Tuca”a Legislative servant who served as a close advisor to Congressman Arthur Lira (PP-AL) when he presided over the Chamber, a period in which there was a significant increase in the use of amendments of this type, such as rapporteur amendments (known by the acronym RP9) and others, such as committee and bench amendments.
“So we are investigating all stages, whether there was a compromise at the end, whether there was an intermediary, whether there was a parliamentarian or not. We investigated seriously and calmly. We will investigate all the links”, added Rodrigues about the case. Lira himself, however, is still not being investigated.
>>Dino orders CGU to expand analysis on amendments to the secret budget
According to the decision of Minister Flávio Dino, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), who authorized the entry of the PF to carry out searches and seizures in the Chamber of Deputies and in the servant’s residence, investigations indicate that she exercised a “continuous, systematic and structured role” in organizing and releasing the secret budget.
In the conversation with journalists, Rodrigues also stated that the PF remains “unshakable to political pressure from anyone”. He also criticized the “fulanization” of investigations into parliamentary amendments.
During the meeting, Rodrigues also criticized legislators who speak against organized crime, but when it comes to voting, take the opposite stance.
“There’s no point in being tough on organized crime, putting an end to mischief, and at the same time not approving important projects that are being processed in the National Congress. We need to make combating it the responsibility of everyone,” he said.
He denied, however, that investigations into parliamentary amendments amount to a “witch hunt” for a certain group and stated that the PF is concerned about “not criminalizing the amendment itself or political activity”. He concluded by stating that “the amendment [parlamentar] It is a legitimate, legal instrument that needs to be used in accordance with the rules”.
Rodrigues avoided revealing how many investigations there are currently open at the Federal Police related to parliamentary amendments. Currently, various investigations are being carried out under secrecy, spread across several Supreme Court offices, with suspected involvement of parliamentarians in deviations from amendments.
