Lula and Bolsonaro’s nominees, deputies, trade unionists: the PF’s targets in the INSS case
The Federal Police targeted the leadership of the National Social Security Institute and leaders and businesspeople linked to the National Confederation of Family Farmers and Rural Family Entrepreneurs (Conafer) in the new phase of Operation Without Discount, launched this Thursday (13).
Among those targeted with arrest warrants are former INSS president Alessandro Stefanutto; the director of Conafer Tiago Abraão Ferreira Lopes; the Conafer accountant Samuel Chrisostomo do Bonfim Júnior; and the businessman Cicero Marcelino de Souza Santoswhich provided services to the entity.
In addition to them, the lobbyist was also the target of a new arrest warrant Antônio Carlos Antunes Camilo, known as “Careca do INSS”. He is already imprisoned in the Papuda Complex, in Brasília.
The decisions were issued by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) André Mendonça, who is the rapporteur of the case at the Court.
Among those targeted by search and seizure warrants are former Social Security Minister José Carlos Oliveira, federal deputy Euclydes Pettersen (Republicanos-MG)state deputy Edson Cunha de Araujo (PSB-MA) and the lawyer and president of the Santos Port Authority, Anderson Pomini. According to the decision, Dias was forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.
The operation by the PF and General Comptroller of the Union investigates undue discounts charged to retirees and pensioners in an alleged scheme that may have reached R$6 billion. In total, 10 preventive arrest warrants and 63 search and seizure warrants and other measures are being served in 14 states and the Federal District.
In a statement, Stefanutto’s defense stated that the arrest is “completely illegal”, as he “has not caused any type of embarrassment to the investigation, cooperating from the beginning with the investigation work. The lawyers also claim that the former president of the municipality will “prove his innocence”.
The PF reported that it investigates crimes of entering false data into official systems, setting up a criminal organization, social security fraud, active and passive corruption, as well as acts of concealment and property dilapidation.
According to the findings, Conafer was the entity that most increased the volume of discounts on INSS benefits from 2019 to 2024. In absolute numbers, it went from R$400 thousand in 2019 to R$57 million in 2020 and R$202 million in 2023.
