Arilton Moura and Luciano Musse are suspected of involvement in a corruption scheme at the Ministry of Education
Pastor Arilton Moura and the former project manager of the Executive Secretariat of the MEC (Ministry of Education), Luciano Musse, stayed in the same hotel in Brasília on at least 10 occasions in 2021 and 2022, according to a report by the PF (Federal Police). Both are suspected of involvement in a corruption scheme in the ministry.
Pastor Gilmar Santos, who is also among those investigated, stayed once at the same hotel.
In addition to the 3, the former Minister of Education, Milton Ribeiro, and the former advisor to the Municipality of Goiânia, Helder Bartolomeu, were arrested preventively on Wednesday (22.Jun.2022), but were released the following day.
In the search and seizure warrant, the Court points out “evidence that Milton, Gilmar and Arilton co-opted mayors for personal interests”.
The former manager of the MEC would have been the “financial operator” from group: “Luciano, in the investigative context, is an important character in the alleged scheme of co-opting mayors to obtain personal advantages through directing or diverting resources from the FNDE /MEC under the pretext of serving politicians/prefectures, characterizing, hypothetically, a sophisticated illegal capture of public resources. with the possible infiltration of a financial operator in the management of the portfolio”.
UNDERSTAND THE CASE
The PF investigates the practice of influence peddling and corruption for the release of public resources from the FNDE (National Fund for the Development of Education).
The request to open an investigation was made after suspicions involving the performance of pastors Gilmar Santos and Arilton Moura at MEC.
Ribeiro resigned as Minister of Education on March 28, after leaked audio shows that he prioritized transfers of funds to municipalities appointed by an evangelical pastor at the request of the president. Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
In the audios released on March 22, Ribeiro says that his priority was “to serve the municipalities that most need it first and, secondly, to serve all those who are friends of Pastor Gilmar”. He also stated that this “It was a special request that the President of the Republic” did.
Listen to Milton Ribeiro’s audio (54s):
Ribeiro made the statement at a meeting at the MEC that was attended by Santos and Moura, as well as mayors and leaders of the FNDE.
The former Minister of Education confirmed that he received the pastors for the 1st time at the request of Bolsonaro and said that meeting the demands of mayors followed technical criteria.
The case is being judged by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), by Minister Cármen Lúcia. The action was sent to the Court after news about Bolsonaro’s alleged interference began to circulate. The president has a privileged forum and investigations involving him need to go through the Supreme Court.
Audios released on Friday (June 24) indicate that the president anticipated Ribeiro the searches and seizures that would be made by the PF. On June 9, during a telephone conversation with his daughter, the former minister said that Bolsonaro had a “feeling” on carrying out operations involving alleged irregularities in the distribution of FNDE resources.
Listen to the audio of the conversation (4min11s):
In another audio, in conversation with a man whom he calls Edu, Myrian Ribeiro, Milton Ribeiro’s wife, said that the former Minister of Education knew about the PF operation.
Listen to the audio of the conversation (1m18s):
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