Brazilian Federal Police arrest another person in Operation Voucher.
Detained upon returning from the USA, businessman Humberto Gomes da Silva became famous for the phrase "for the government? Just increase the value by three."
The author of the famous phrase, "Is it for the government? Multiply the value by three, everything times three," is under arrest. Humberto Gomes da Silva, whose arrest was ordered in Operation Voucher, arrived today from the United States and was taken directly to the Federal Police (PF) jail in Brasília, even though he possessed a habeas corpus, because he did not have the money to pay the R$ 109 bail set by the court.
Launched last week, Operation Voucher resulted in the arrest of 38 people accused of involvement in a scheme to embezzle funds from the Ministry of Tourism. Of these, 36 warrants had been served, but 19 people were released on the same day. The others benefited two days later from habeas corpus granted by Federal Judge Guilherme Mendonça Doehler, of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region, but on the condition of paying bail.
Businessman and journalist Humberto owns Barbalho Reis Comunicação e Consultoria, accused of serving as a front for the embezzlement of funds from a R$ 4,4 million agreement for workforce training in Amapá. Through his blog, he denied participating in the fraud. "I am not a fugitive, nor a bandit, and much less do I teach bidding: the art of rule 3," he said mockingly, referring to a telephone conversation, intercepted with judicial authorization, in which he teaches a colleague how to inflate public bids.
He is the brother of Hugo Leonardo da Silva, a partner at Sinc Recursos Humanos, who was also arrested – and has since been released – for alleged involvement in the scheme. Humberto was arrested upon disembarking at Brasília airport, arriving from Miami. He said he had gone to the United States the day before the operation to sell a vehicle he had left there while residing in the country studying English. His family claims he doesn't have the money to pay bail, and his lawyer is filing a request today to reduce the amount.