Federal Police point to possible partnership between Cachoeira and Cavendish, of Delta.

247 - There is increasingly strong evidence of a possible partnership between illegal gambling operator Carlos Cachoeira and the construction company Delta Construções, owned by businessman Fernando Cavendish, which has been the largest recipient of federal funds in recent years. Read the report from Saturday's Folha de S. Paulo below:

According to reports, there is evidence that money from Delta was used to fund shell companies linked to gambling.

The regional director of the construction company was dismissed after being reported by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

FILIPE COUTINHO

FERNANDO MELLO

LEANDRO COLON

FROM BRASILIA

The Federal Police have raised suspicions that the construction company Delta, the largest recipient of federal government funds in the last three years, was part of the scheme set up by the group of Carlos Augusto Ramos, known as Carlinhos Cachoeira, who is accused of running an illegal gambling network.

According to intelligence reports from the Federal Police in Operation Monte Carlo, there is evidence "that most of the money that 'enters' the accounts of shell companies [linked to the businessman's group] originates from the company Delta."

In a November report, the Federal Police stated that they had uncovered "evidence that part of the resources from the Delta company transferred to shell companies are destined for individuals and legal entities directly or indirectly linked to the gambling structure."

According to the investigations, it was possible to confirm a "secret" partnership between Cachoeira and Claudio Abreu, then regional director for the Central-West region of the construction company, who was removed from his position after being denounced by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office. No one else from Delta was indicted.

According to the Federal Police, a traced bank deposit is "possibly related to the return of inflated payments that the company Delta receives from its contracts with the public sector."

Delta has earned R$ 3,6 billion from the federal government since 2004. The company operates in various sectors, from construction and energy to waste collection.

In the Federal District, the main contract is for garbage collection - it received R$ 140 million in the last three years.

The name of Claudio Monteiro, chief of staff to Governor Agnelo Queiroz (PT), is mentioned in a recording by the Federal Police. Monteiro admits that he met with Cachoeira's allies to discuss Delta contracts: the meetings were with Claudio Abreu and retired sergeant Idalberto Matias, nicknamed Dadá, who allegedly presented himself as president of the street sweepers' association.

PRIVATE BUSINESS

The Federal Police transcribed dozens of dialogues in which the name Delta appears. According to the investigation, Cachoeira arranged meetings with informants at the company's building in Goiânia - Delta received more than R$ 100 million from the Goiás state government since 2010.

On June 14, 2011, Cachoeira called a federal police officer identified as his informant to inquire about possible raids. The businessman asked: "And what about Delta, anything?"

On the 8th, one of Cachoeira's allies, Gleyb Ferreira, was talking to federal police officer Deuselino Valadares, who was also indicted.

"There's no need to mess with anything public, just deal with private companies, that's better, end these contracts with public companies, like the government and such, drop all this stuff that only causes problems," said the police officer.

Read also the previous 247 report on Cavendish:

247 - Which construction company is growing the most in Brazil? If you thought of one of the big four, like Odebrecht, Camargo Corrêa, Andrade Gutierrez, and Queiroz Galvão, you're wrong. The rocket of engineering in Brazil is called Delta Construções and is piloted by businessman Fernando Soares Cavendish. A discreet figure, he gained notoriety last year when a helicopter crash off the coast of Bahia was reported nationally – the governor of Rio was one of Cavendish's guests on the trip.

With contracts worth billions, Delta is already the fifth largest construction company in the country and is once again in the spotlight due to its close ties with the illegal gambling kingpin Carlinhos Cachoeira, arrested in Operation Monte Carlo. In Goiás, Delta's director, Cláudio Abreu, who was dismissed, acted as Cachoeira's partner. The two operated from the same location, and in several phone calls intercepted by the Federal Police, Cachoeira demonstrated a clear interest in everything concerning Delta. In the most recent case, revealed this Thursday by the newspaper Estado de S. Paulo, Cachoeira was talking to Cláudio Abreu about a R$ 60 million contract in the Federal District. In Goiás, Delta started from scratch and won contracts worth R$ 245 million – some of them with Detran (the state traffic department), whose president, Edivaldo Cardoso, resigned yesterday because of his connections with Cachoeira.

So far, Cavendish has not commented on the Goiás crisis. But his track record of controversies is impressive. Last year, Delta was questioned regarding an alleged overpricing of R$ 400 million in the Maracanã stadium renovation works, which are being led by the construction company. Recently, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office tried to prevent Delta from participating in the works at Guarulhos Airport, also due to overbilling – after that, part of the roof collapsed.

Unbridled ambition

A representative of the second generation of the company, founded by Inaldo Soares in Recife, Fernando Cavendish is considered by close friends to be an extremely persuasive character with boundless ambition. The doors to his career in the Lula administration were opened by Congressman Valdemar Costa Neto (PR-SP), who still wields strong influence in the Ministry of Transport. After that, Cavendish sought closer ties with various figures in the political world, such as José Dirceu and Sérgio Cabral.

In Goiás, his investment was more substantial. It is rumored that he was one of the major financiers of Marconi Perillo's campaign, which included figures such as Sergeant Idalberto Martins, nicknamed Dadá, who is Carlos Cachoeira's right-hand man. The relationship was so close that it seemed more like a partnership, as if Cachoeira were a kind of Cavendish franchisee in the Goiás backlands.

Contacted by 247's reporting team, Delta sent the following statement via email:

1- Delta Construção is not among the five largest civil construction companies in the country. This information is false and can be verified by checking all the sector's indicators.

2- In Delta Construção's contract portfolio, there is not a single "billion-dollar" contract.

3- Delta Construção does not lead the consortium for the Maracanã renovation. The leadership and majority stake in the consortium belongs to Construtora Norberto Odebrecht. Delta Construção participates in the group, honorably, as a minority shareholder. It is in the group along with large engineering and construction companies.

4- In the course and transcripts of the inquiry cited by Brasil 247, there is not a single dialogue in which the president of Delta Construção, Fernando Cavendish Soares, appears conversing with anyone. Simply because, except for the former director of the company, Cláudio Abreu, none of the people mentioned had a personal relationship with him.

5- On March 8, 2012, engineer Claudio Abreu was dismissed from Delta Construção, where he held the position of director of the Central-West regional office. The dismissal was due to investigations by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Police into the intensity and extent of the personal relationship between Claudio Abreu and the businessman from Goiás, Carlos Augusto Ramos. This intensity and extent of the relationship were unknown to Delta, therefore the company's Board of Directors ordered the professional's removal and initiated an internal audit to investigate the facts reported by prosecutors and federal police. The company only became aware of the content of the dialogues through the press and is unaware of their origins and motivations. The courts have already accepted charges based on the facts uncovered in the so-called Operation Monte Carlo, and 81 people have been indicted. Delta Construção is not among them. The company's institutional relations department was unaware of any action taken by Mr. Carlos Augusto Ramos to avoid summonses concerning the company's controlling shareholders, thus deeming it a unilateral act on his part, as captured in a dialogue disclosed by the press.

6- Delta Construção did not support any candidacies. In accordance with the law and specific legislation, it contributed to federal campaigns. There was never any specific interest in any particular state.

7- Delta Construção has never, at any time, maintained or intended to maintain electronic ticketing contracts with the DFTrans system in Brasília. The leaked dialogues reveal third parties discussing contacting the company for a supposed meeting. Delta Construção did not attend any meeting on the subject, is unaware of the matter, and did not pursue any related issue.