Car of former president of Marçal’s party is shot at in DF

The lawyer and former president of the São Paulo directory of the Brazilian Labor Renewal Party (PRTB), Joaquim Pereira de Paulo Neto, had his car shot at on Thursday afternoon (10).

The case was referred to the Department of Combating Corruption and Organized Crime of the Civil Police of the Federal District on suspicion of the involvement of the First Command of the Capital (PCC) in the case. PRTB is the party for which former coach Pablo Marçal ran in the municipal elections in São Paulo this year.

According to the police report, Neto and lawyer Patrícia Reiter were on the DF-001 highway when they were approached by two people on a motorcycle. Upon hearing the order to stop, Patricia, who was driving, accelerated the vehicle until shots were fired towards the car’s window, which was armored. The two were not injured.

Neto was state president of PRTB in São Paulo from March to June this year. He replaced Tarcísio Escobar de Almeida, who was in office for three days. As revealed by the EstadãoEscobar was indicted in July 2023 for association with drug trafficking and criminal organization and is being investigated by the São Paulo Civil Police for involvement in a scheme that exchanged luxury cars for cocaine for the PCC.

Even outside the role of president, he continued to participate in political meetings in which he presented himself as president of the party, including events at headquarters, in addition to speaking on behalf of the PRTB, establishing alliances of the party throughout the state of São Paulo. The national president of the party, Leonardo Avalanche, stated that he was pressured by Neto to put him in charge.

After discovering that Escobar was being investigated, Avalanche said they had removed the then president from the party. However, the lawyer denies the pressure. In a video published on social media, Escobar appears alongside Avalanche for a photo shoot for the party. The date of the video is May 29th – just over two months after Escobar’s official departure. Joaquim Neto, Escobar and also Michel Winter, from the PRTB of Minas Gerais, broke with Avalanche on the grounds of non-compliance with agreements.

Both Escobar and Patrícia claim to have registered police reports alleging threats from Avalanche because of the complaint about the alleged involvement with PCC, but prefer not to relate the case to the president of the PRTB.

“We both denounced our involvement with the PCC. Avalanche threatened me, and the evidence is with the Public Prosecutor’s Office. But we need to be careful, we cannot talk about his involvement in the attack. I’d rather let the police bring that information. I have my feelings, but I prefer to leave it to the police to resolve,” the lawyer told Metropolises.