Senator was accused in a plea bargain of involvement in a money embezzlement scheme from the Rio Sports Secretariat
The senator Romário (PL-RJ) used social media on Monday night (May 27, 2024) to comment on his alleged involvement in a scheme to divert money from sports projects at Rio City Hall. According to the former player, the charges against him are “completely unfounded and without evidence”.
“The article published today [2ª feira, 27.mai] at the ‘UOL‘, based on the testimony of a corrupt, scoundrel and ex-convict Marcus Vinícius Azevedo da Silva brings completely unfounded accusations with no evidence against me”, he wrote in a post on X.
Romário refers to a report from the news portal about the plea bargain of businessman Marcus Vinícius Azevedo da Silva. According to the whistleblower, Romário and the councilor Marcos Braz (PL-RJ) would have participated in a money embezzlement scheme at the Rio Municipal Sports Secretariat.
Braz, who is Flamengo’s vice-president of football, commanded the Rio Sports Secretariat from January 2015 to March 2016, the period in which the suspected irregularities occurred. He was appointed to the position by Romário.
Without citing the councilor, the former player said in the post that he only answers for himself: “I reiterate that I can never speak for others, only for myself”.
Elsewhere, the senator mentioned that the STJ (Supreme Court of Justice) annulled the complaint, “highlighting the lack of credibility of the whistleblower”. The case was returned to the TJ-RJ (Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro), which accepted the complaint last week.
Arrested in 2019 for embezzling resources from social projects run by the government and the City of Rio de Janeiro, Marcus Vinícius signed a plea agreement in 2020 and responds to the case in freedom. The complaint is confidential.
“To the idiots on duty and those who row against me, rooting for my failure, I say that I am in the happiest moment of my life. Nothing shakes me. Nothing affects me“, he said. “I continue to sleep peacefully, as I have always slept in these 14 years of politics.”
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