07/15/2024 – 22:00
During a meeting in which he and the top brass of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency were discussing a strategy to free Senator Flávio Bolsonaro from the investigation into the “rachadinhas,” former President Jair Bolsonaro expressed his fears that the schemes he and his allies intended to use to undermine the investigation would be recorded. At the time of the meeting, which took place in August 2020, a month after the arrest of Fabrício Queiroz, the then Chief Executive had little idea that he was being recorded, nor that the audio in question would be found by the Federal Police on the cell phone of one of his main allies, Federal Deputy Alexandre Ramagem.
Bolsonaro mentioned the possibility of an environmental recording shortly after suggesting “conversations” with the then Secretary of the Federal Revenue Service and with a person who, according to the former president, was from Serpro – the Federal Data Processing Service. After the suggestion, General Augusto Heleno – former head of the Institutional Security Office who was also participating in the meeting – issued a warning to keep the “thing very closed”.
The former president agrees and adds: “That’s right. And let me make it very clear, we never know if someone is recording something, that we are not looking for favors from anyone.”
After the audio was released, Bolsonaro’s advisor and lawyer Fabio Wajngarten came out in defense of the former president, saying that the conversation “only reinforces how much the president loves Brazil and its people.” He cited the part of the audio in which Bolsonaro says he would not be seeking favors from anyone.
In a video posted on his social media, Alexandre Ramagem, who participated in the conversation and is believed to have recorded it, said that Bolsonaro knew he was being recorded and that he had the then president’s approval. “This recording was not clandestine.” He also said that the audio of the conversation later recovered on his cell phone was discarded. “The president has always said that he does not want to be tricked. Much less influence peddling.”
During the meeting, Bolsonaro asked Flávio’s defense: “Who do you want to talk to tomorrow? Canuto?” Flávio’s lawyer replied: “You decide.” Then Bolsonaro continued: “Who is interested in us resolving this matter?” He added: “I’ll talk to Canuto. Now, I’ll talk to Flávio about that. Any time tomorrow.”
Seconds later, Bolsonaro also states: “Nobody likes influence peddling.”
At another point in the conversation, Flávio’s lawyer follows Heleno’s lead, worried about a possible leak of the operation planned there. “That everything we’re talking about [inaudível] that I don’t want my name in the newspaper.”
The recording also shows that Flávio’s defense intended that the maneuver planned there – targeting the tax auditors responsible for the report that framed Flávio – would not benefit only the senator. “The big question is when to say the following. Oh, that the president of the Republic is trying to use the structure of the presidency to defend his son, but this case here, this is what we discovered. It could benefit, in one way or another, all the people who were attacked. So we can’t say that it’s a partisan, ideological thing. So with this we can nullify Furna da Onça in general.”
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