Demosthenes Torres attacks members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Federal District.

Brasilia 247 – In a critical speech this Friday morning (4), the leader of the DEM in the Senate, Demóstenes Torres, showed that he is willing to provoke the support base of Governor Agnelo Queiroz in the Legislative Chamber. "Between their scalp and the governor's, they choose the governor's," he justified. This week, 19 of the 24 parliamentarians released a statement supporting the head of the Executive.

Demosthenes reaffirmed in the House tribune that the party will request Agnelo's impeachment due to suspected involvement in the embezzlement of funds from the Second Time Program of the Ministry of Sports. "I came to make this statement because I am ashamed of what is happening in the District Chamber." According to him, the district deputies are pretending that nothing is happening in Brasília. "They don't care about public opinion, it's as if nothing is happening, as if Agnelo were a pope, a theologian, when in reality he is deeply involved in all kinds of corruption," he accused.

He cited that the DEM party expelled former governor José Roberto Arruda for being involved in the Caixa de Pandora corruption scandal, which broke out in 2009. "Our party, which expelled those who did not honor its banner, including the only governor elected in 2006, will go after the others." And that now, the PT cannot remain silent in the face of the accusations against Agnelo. "We cannot tolerate the PT, which made a spectacle of itself back then, remaining silent in the face of consistent evidence regarding the governor's participation in the scandal, in which there is no shortage of witnesses to his involvement."

According to Demóstenes, the PT (Workers' Party) chosen by Agnelo after he left the PCdoB (Communist Party of Brazil) has two options: reconsider its position of supporting the governor or fully embrace its role as "the party of cronyism." "The true PT members certainly disagree with this corruption. It is necessary to call them to battle for the restoration of morality in the Federal District, a banner that the party so strongly championed in previous administrations," he argued.

Licensed Public Prosecutor Demóstenes said there is no shortage of evidence regarding Agnelo's participation in the scheme when he headed the Ministry of Sports from 2003 to 2006. "Everything indicates that he was the one who hired the lawyer who prepared João Dias' defense," he recalled, referring to the request for the judicially authorized recording of the conversation in which the military police officer asks Agnelo for help defending himself against the accusation of embezzling funds from the Second Time program. "There is also a scheme involving fake invoices and two witnesses who claim to have given him money," he added.

João Dias and his wife, Ana Paula de Faria, and five other people are the target of a complaint filed by the Federal Prosecutor's Office in the Federal District for five crimes: forming a criminal organization; embezzlement; falsification of documents; use of false documents and money laundering; and for involvement in the misappropriation of funds from the program in Brasília.

With information from Agência Estado