A consultant for the Sino-Indonesian company vying for control of Eldorado is a Bolsonaro supporter.

By Joaquim de Carvalho, 247 Paper Excellence, a Sino-Indonesian company engaged in a commercial dispute with the Brazilian company J&F, released a statement asserting that it has never financed, does not finance, and will never finance any political group in Brazil or abroad. With this statement, it attempted to distance itself from reports suggesting that by supporting Bolsonaro, it was also collaborating in terrorist actions against the powers of the republic.

Whether or not Paper's funding occurred is something that can be confirmed or denied through ongoing investigations by the Federal Police. What is undeniable is the activism of its consultant in Brazil, Josmar Verillo, in favor of Bolsonaro's ideology. 

On November 21st, he even tried to directly engage in polemics with the First Lady, Janja Lula da Silva, who had published a text in support of Gilberto Gil after the singer and composer was harassed by a Bolsonaro supporter in Qatar. His Twitter account reproduces posts from notorious propagators of fake news and disinformation, such as Congressman Nikolas Ferreira, Rodrigo Constantino, and Alexandre Garcia, among others.

On November 7th, he himself attacked the elected government by sharing a text by the humorist and far-right activist from Rio de Janeiro, Marvio Lucio, who had said: “Democracy has changed its name, Leftocracy”. Josmar wrote: “What a synonym for kleptocracy”.

Two days later, when sharing a text by Bolsonaro supporter Leandro Ruschel about the new government, he posted: “If you get to the door and shout POLICE!!!!, more than half will run away in a panic!!” Ruschel deleted the post, but the Paper consultant kept his.

Josmar Verillo also retweeted a post by Senator-elect Hamilton Mourão, who considers the terrorist acts that occurred in Brasília on the day of Lula's inauguration as "legitimate." 

Verillo shared fake news spread by Paulo Generoso, the creator of the República de Curitiba page. According to Generoso, Pastor Tsererê Xavante, who presents himself as a chief and was arrested for defending violent acts, might be dead in the Federal Police headquarters.

Verillo also shared attacks against Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), such as the text by JR Guzzo, which claims that the exclusion of the accounts of extremists Paulo Figueiredo and Rodrigo Constantino on the social network was illegal.

The list of attacks on the institutions of the republic is much more extensive. The consultant for Paper, who is also a member of its Board of Directors, hardly deals with any other topic besides supporting Bolsonaro, such as Neymar's request for votes for the then-candidate for re-election, and attacking those who tried to put limits on the anti-democratic actions of Bolsonarism.

Verillo, former president of Klabin, also in the paper and pulp industry, had his name directly involved in a marketing campaign aimed at undermining Brazilian businessmen who are battling over Eldorado Brasil - Papel e Celulose.

In February 2019, Matrix publishing house released the book "Traitors of the Fatherland," written by journalist Cláudio Tognolli, who has never hidden his admiration for Sergio Moro and his anti-PT (Workers' Party) stance. It was a compact version of another book by the author, "Calling a Name," from 2017.

The book could be interpreted as serving a supposed public interest, were it not for the fact that emails exchanged between Verillo and the owner of Matrix, Paulo Dantas, indicate that the work was commissioned by the Sino-Indonesian company, owned by the billionaire Widjaja family.

"Hi Josmar, how are you? Here's the final text of the book. Please check if everything is correct. Any changes should be made to this same file (it's already in controlled edit mode, which will allow me to see any modifications. This will speed up my work here, without Claudio and I having to read everything again). I've left a small yellow text in the middle for verification. For us, it's correct, but if you know of anything different, let me know. Besides that, the details that directly involve you: no one is better suited to see that than you. Could you possibly look at everything and give me an answer within 3 days?", said the editor.

Josmar responded with a message that demonstrates he had control over the final content of the work. "Tadeu, I made some corrections. There are some things that need updating. Alpargatas has already been sold, etc. But the grand finale is missing. I wrote some things at the end. It needs a grand finale that justifies the title. Because it has all the descriptions of things that happened, but it needs a grand finale that explains why they are traitors to the fatherland."

Verillo's claims were heeded, and the book was launched amidst an intense marketing campaign that portrayed the Batista brothers, controllers of J&F, as the great villains, with advertising in nationally circulated newspapers, and a parade of a float in Brasília, featuring oxen painted green and yellow and the phrase #Traitors of the Fatherland.

The emails also reveal that, after the book was approved by Paper's consultant, Matrix issued an invoice. Three months later, when the emails were made public by Folha de S. Paulo, Matrix stated that it had only consulted the Paper representative and sold him 2 copies in advance.

Josmar Verillo remains close to the book's author, Cláudio Tognolli, as shown by his posts on Twitter. One is about organ donation and another about Cláudio Tognolli's discharge from the hospital on July 22, 2022, where he remained hospitalized for five months, two of them in the ICU.

The reason for his hospitalization, which occurred after he testified in a police investigation in which Paper was accused of hacking the emails of J&F executives, was not revealed, but the illness was serious. "Without wanting to exaggerate, I've returned from the dead: my chance of survival was 2%," he wrote in a tweet shared by Verillo.

Verillo has a history as a Klabin executive with activism in an NGO that can be defined as a pioneer in the Lava Jato school, with negative repercussions in a city of 14 inhabitants similar to what happened, on a much larger scale, to Brazil after Sergio Moro, Deltan Dallagnol and their entire group emerged on the national scene.

He is the founder of Amigos Associados de Ribeirão Bonito (Amarribo), which in 2002 made corruption allegations against the city's mayor, Antônio Sérgio Mello Buzzá, who would later be impeached. As journalist Luís Nassif recounted on his website, GGN, the campaign against the mayor was sparked by an accusation of insignificant embezzlement.

"The city's mayor, Rubens Gayoso Júnior, was seen by everyone as a lovable figure. In his eagerness to find a scandal, Josmar unearthed an advertisement published in the São Carlos newspaper. And he found that the city hall paid the equivalent of 80 cm2 more than what was published. The amount was negligible," he wrote.

Nassif's texts about Josmar and Amarribo, written at the height of Lava Jato, were refuted by Transparency International, an organization that presents itself as a "global movement" against corruption, of which the consultant and advisor to Paper is a member.

At the time, Transparency International enjoyed domestic prestige and held a prominent place in media outlets such as TV Globo. Its credibility, however, crumbled after archived messages from Deltan Dallagnol's Telegram account came to light.

These messages show that actions in defense of Lava Jato were coordinated with Bruno Brandão, executive director of Transparency International, including the creation of the foundation to invest R$ 2,5 billion received in the Petrobras agreement with the United States Department of Justice.

The messages, accessed by hacker Walter Delgatti Neto and made public in the case known as Vaza Jato, also mention Amarribo de Josmar Verillo, whom Deltan wanted as a member of the foundation's board of trustees.

The entity was already formed when the fate of the Petrobras funds was reported, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Curitiba. Due to the scandal, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) decided that the money should be allocated to the Federal Government and would ultimately be used for actions to combat COVID-19.

A message exchanged between Deltan and Bruno Brandão deserves highlighting. In it, Deltan Dallagnol asks the executive director of Transparency International to publish a text refuting criticisms that Lava Jato was destroying national companies.

Bruno complies with the request and publishes an article in the Valor Econômico newspaper on February 14, 2018, titled "Legacy of the fight against corruption will be positive for the economy." He also informs Detan Dallagnol, "I published an article in Valor today using the results of TRAC to refute the opportunistic discourse that Lava Jato and the fight against corruption are harming the economy."

Later, a study by the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies would reveal that Lava Jato, which began in 2014, directly caused the disinvestment of R$ 172 billion and the elimination of 4,4 million jobs.

Two days ago, when Brasil 247 published a report about Paper Excellence's connection to Bolsonaro's supporters, and the company released a statement denying that it "financed, finances, or will finance any political group in Brazil or abroad," journalist Luís Nassif tweeted: "Transparency International, you owe us explanations. It was your partner Josmar Verillo who set up the lobby. Paper Excellence is one of the main financiers of Bolsonaro's supporters in Brazil." 

Josmar responded on Nassif's account with the Paper Excellence note.

247 contacted Paper Excellence regarding Josmar Verillo's pro-Bolsonaro activism and requested an interview with him. Paper Excellence's response follows: 

"I don't provide consulting services to Josmar, as he is not an executive at Paper. He is one of the board members. He is the CEO of another company and sits on the boards of other companies as well. It's important to emphasize that the opinions expressed by board members on their private social media accounts do not reflect the position of Paper or its shareholders." 

The advisors are not spokespeople for the company. Regarding the meetings with authorities, this is part of the company's routine in all the countries where it operates. These were very brief meetings and in no way imply political support for any party. Similar meetings will take place with the Executive Branch of the new Government. Paper meets with Parliamentarians from all parties. All of this is to explain its investment plan for the country. This is not lobbying.”

The floor is open for Josmar Verillo to express his views.

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This report is part of a series on how Lava Jato and Bolsonaro's policies harmed the Brazilian economy, and what paths exist for its reconstruction.