Did Protógenes sell prisons?

247 – Former police chief Protógenes Queiroz managed to get elected as a federal deputy with a single discourse: the fight against corruption and the need to put powerful people in jail. However, the spell may backfire. A report published today in Consultor Jurídico, the largest legal news portal in the country, reveals that he is being investigated by the Supreme Federal Court precisely for selling the imprisonment of powerful people to commercial adversaries. The inquiry is in the hands of Minister Dias Toffoli. Read:

Businessmen are being investigated for bribing a police chief.

BY MÁRCIO CHAER

It promised to be the apotheosis of an epic and historic battle. The civic victory of idealism over villainy. A heroic police chief and a courageous judge confront the system, a white-collar shark, and defeat economic power by putting criminals in jail. But what began as one of the most beautiful contemporary fables, full of idealism, now reveals itself as a case of corruption. Operation Satiagraha, which fueled the illusions of many, the Justice system concluded, was nothing more than a farce. Worse: a bought farce.

Former police chief Protógenes Queiroz, even protected by a parliamentary mandate, is the target of an investigation in the Supreme Federal Court for illegal wiretapping, prevarication, and passive corruption. The suspicions are based on juicy data. His assets allegedly increased twentyfold after he entered this fight of good against evil. Protógenes and his former boss, Paulo Lacerda, allegedly sold Operation Satiagraha to businessmen who wanted a share of Daniel Dantas's stake in the national telecommunications market.

In the investigation at the Supreme Federal Court, under number 3.152, the name of the businessman who allegedly secretly financed the operation appears: Luís Roberto Demarco de Almeida. A dismissed director of Opportunity, he is described in the investigation as someone who amassed a fortune specializing in providing services to Dantas's adversaries.

According to the ruling signed by federal judge Toru Yamamoto, who forwarded Inquiry 3.152 to the Supreme Federal Court when Protógenes became a congressman, Demarco is not the only one being investigated for active corruption in this scandalous story. Businessman Paulo Henrique Amorim, who presents himself as a champion in the fight against crime, faces the same accusation as his partner.

Like Protógenes, Amorim boasts an unusual increase in assets for the standards of his profession. He owns, for example, a property on Fifth Avenue in New York, across from the Metropolitan Museum. According to the presenter himself, the exact number is equivalent to two New York apartments.

The names of Demarco and Paulo Henrique Amorim emerged in the proceedings following the breach of Protógenes' telephone secrecy. Upon discovering fraudulent practices during the famous operation, the Federal Police themselves decided to investigate the source of the delegate's enthusiasm for the mission. It was then discovered that Protógenes had exchanged at least 422 phone calls with the pair of businessmen in the twelve months preceding the launch of the operation.

At the same time, the then-delegate began receiving, as a "donation," part of the seven properties he declared to the electoral court as his own. Protógenes also declared to the electoral court that he had R$ 284 saved at home and an account in Switzerland.

The investigation into the assets of the current congressman, however, shows that the declaration contains enough errors to justify the revocation of Protógenes' mandate. Part of his assets were omitted, and the total value of the declared assets (R$ 834) would be six times greater (R$ 5,04 million). Before becoming a police officer, Protógenes' assets, according to his declaration, amounted to R$ 206.

Dantas' executioner

Luís Roberto Demarco, known as Dantas's tormentor in the media and the Public Prosecutor's Office, decisively influenced the privatization process of the telephone company. Throughout dozens of legal proceedings, he appears impersonating journalists, deputies, lawyers, police officers, and in the role of lobbyist. In a report published by this website in September 2004, it was found that he was the author of the first lawsuit filed by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office against Daniel Dantas and Opportunity. Later, it became known that the businessman had sponsored an investigation opened in the Chamber of Deputies against his former employer, as well as other investigations and inquiries in other bodies, such as Anatel and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Demarco also managed to be admitted as an assistant prosecutor for the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in São Paulo, in cases that he himself spearheaded. His dealings with the police were also notorious—he exchanged emails with delegates suggesting actions for the Federal Police. Of course: suggesting the arrest of Dantas.

Demarco says his fortune derives from a conglomerate of IT companies that, among other activities, are involved in the sale of software. But, at least for a certain period, during the battle for control of the telecom companies, his revenue demonstrably increased with money coming from Dantas' competitors. This information comes from the Italian justice system, where former executives of Telecom Italia confessed that millions of euros were sent to Demarco in a project for the operator to take control of Brasil Telecom.

Without mincing words, the Italians stated in court that the large sums of money were used in Brazil to bribe police officers, politicians, and journalists. The explanations, contained in a lawsuit concerning a multi-million dollar corporate espionage scheme involving Telecom Italia in several countries, currently being heard in Milan's courts, served to demonstrate that Telecom Italia executives had not pocketed the money belonging to the operator's shareholders.

The accusation from Dantas' lawyers is that Demarco and Paulo Henrique Amorim allegedly greased the wheels of a publicity machine designed to amplify Daniel Dantas's bad reputation. Since the banker had already outmaneuvered many competitors using the most perverse methods capitalism allows, it wouldn't be difficult to transform him into an icon of white-collar crime.

A disguised commercial interest has merged with the voluntarism of people who believe it is necessary to deviate from the path of law to imprison the rich—a thought analogous to that of businessmen who sponsor the creation of militias in Rio de Janeiro or the mentors of death squads who began by hunting criminals and ended up doing all sorts of dirty work. Today, it is difficult to distinguish who acted in the farce for money and who embarked on it out of misguided idealism.

Dantas' life seems to have been reduced to following legal proceedings. No one knows for sure the value of all his assets that have been frozen, in Brazil and other countries. Dantas lost his partnership with Citibank and Brasil Telecom. He was handcuffed and arrested. But according to Demarco and Amorim, the banker is the most powerful man in Brazil.

The main tactic used by the two defendants, according to the case before the Supreme Federal Court (STF), is to intimidate journalists and judges who harm their interests. Their modus operandi consists of systematically accusing anyone who doesn't join the campaign against Dantas of working for him. In other words, any news or judicial decision that isn't against the banker can only be considered corruption. This successful tactic has kept the press away from the issue and causes distress among the judges "rewarded" with cases dealing with it.

The success of this whole saga is, in part, a product of weariness with impunity. After centuries of social injustice, seeing a millionaire in jail has become idyllic. Even if the scheme was sponsored by other millionaires.

The investigation at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) is under the care of Minister Dias Toffoli. The Attorney General's Office will likely do everything to protect its representatives in São Paulo, who gave shelter to the fiction produced by Protógenes.

Judge Fausto de Sanctis, another former hero of the satiagraha, after the applause, experiences disapproval. At least for the elite of the national legal profession, he is considered a folkloric character. He went on to face successive trials. He escaped, according to his judges, because being a bad judge is neither a crime nor a disciplinary offense.

It's possible that Protógenes, Demarco, and Amorim will also be cleared of charges. But it's unlikely that the trick will work again in the future.

Read also the previous article from 247 about the delegate's dangerous relationship with FIFA:

By Claudio Julio Tognolli_247 - The 6th international journalism congress of Abraji, the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (WWW.abraji.org.br), begins on June 30th. One of the star speakers will be Andrew Jennings, who works for the BBC's Panorama program. Andrew is the only person in the world capable of saying whether or not there were illicit connections between federal deputy Protógenes Queiróz and the president of the CBF, Ricardo Teixeira – who appointed the delegate as a “consultant” to FIFA.

British public broadcaster BBC will air a report by Jennings on Monday, revealing that CBF president Ricardo Teixeira admitted in hearings before Swiss judges to the existence of bribe payments at FIFA and that he reached an agreement to block the publication of this information by the court in Zug, Switzerland, in the ISL case. The program will show that the agreement also involved Brazilian João Havelange, former FIFA president, before prosecutors investigating suspicions of a US$100 million bribe payment at the organization. Jennings, who is coming to Brazil for the Abraji congress and for the launch of his book "The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Buying and Ticket Scandals," published in Brazil by Panda Books, may be the only one in the world capable of answering why Protógenes was placed on FIFA's payroll by Ricardo Teixeira – and this when he was still a federal police officer and, therefore, a public employee who cannot work double shifts.

Delegate Protógenes has a bank account in Switzerland, which at the time of his candidacy registration had a balance of R$ 11.912,96. Protógenes' lawyer, Adib Abdouni, explains, classically, that the account was opened by FIFA for reimbursement of travel and food expenses. There is no FIFA office in Lugano. Protógenes began traveling frequently to FIFA headquarters in Zurich after becoming a member of the World Football Association's Stadium Security Committee, at the suggestion of the Brazilian Football Confederation. Available on the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) website, the declaration lists seven properties, stocks, a consortium, a private pension plan, cash, and a "credit card" account in Lugano, Switzerland, totaling assets of R$ 834.469,85.

For years, Ricardo Teixeira circulated in the Brazilian jet set introducing Delegate Protógenes as "Dr. Queiroz, my great friend." Ricardo Teixeira appointed Protógenes as a consultant to FIFA after journalist Marcelo Rezende, then on Globo Repórter, produced a special hour-and-a-half series pointing out that Teixeira's assets were incompatible with his earnings at the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation).

The report

Reporter Jennings worked for the Sunday Times Insight, World In Action, BBC Panorama, CBS Sixty Minutes, and many other British and foreign publications. He has published five books, translated into 15 languages, about corruption at Scotland Yard, the IOC, and FIFA. He is the only reporter in the world banned by FIFA president Joseph Blatter. He lectures at universities on corruption and how to obtain confidential documents and report their contents. According to the BBC, both Teixeira and Havelange allegedly made a deal with FIFA president Joseph Blatter. The program's content leaked this Sunday in the Norwegian press, which indicated that both Teixeira and Havelange had admitted in court hearings to the existence of the bribes.

According to the BBC, both Teixeira and Havelange allegedly reached an agreement with FIFA president Joseph Blatter. The program's content leaked to the Norwegian press on Sunday, which indicated that both Teixeira and Havelange had admitted to the existence of the bribes in court hearings.

However, according to the BBC's Panorama program, court hearings with Teixeira and Havelange, as part of the proceedings, revealed that the two football officials did indeed confirm the bribe payment. To prevent the publication of their names, an agreement allegedly involving Teixeira, Havelange, and Blatter was made, suppressing the disclosure of this information to the public.

The book

In the book, Jennings discusses the relationship between the current president of the Federation, Joseph Blatter, with his predecessor João Havelange and the head of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), Ricardo Teixeira; addresses the Swiss national's suspicious connections with the sponsors of the organization and major clubs and national teams; and reveals schemes involving the buying of votes and World Cup tickets, among other things.

In the excerpt below, taken from chapter 26, entitled "Blatter breaks Mandela's heart," the journalist recounts the controversy surrounding the selection of South Africa as the host of the 2010 World Cup. Part of the text mentions the relationship between the FIFA president and Al-Saadi Gaddafi, son of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi.

Al-Saadi, who was also a football player at the time, advocated for Libya's bid to host the 2006 World Cup and, later, the 2010 World Cup. See more details in the excerpt below.

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Perugia, August 2003. "Blatter knows that it was only Bin Hammam and I who helped him secure the FIFA presidency," boasted the lean, bearded Arab midfielder. After a training session with Perugia, his Serie A Italian team named after a medieval city 170 kilometers from Rome – a journey he made at breakneck speed in his Ferrari – Al-Saadi Gaddafi declared to the press: "Blatter approached me and asked for help against Hayatou. Bin Hammam and I should take the credit for his victory in the presidential elections."

The thirty-year-old billionaire, who had agreed to play without pay because his club was at risk of relegation, was promoting his country's bid to host the 2010 World Cup, the first to be promised exclusively to an African nation. After Germany was chosen to host the 2006 tournament, Blatter and his Executive Committee had decided that in the future there would be a rotation of continents; for 2010, only African countries could apply.

But which one to choose? Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa all wanted to host the World Cup. And Blatter wanted everyone to think they had a chance.

Critics found Libya's claims laughable, a country that didn't possess a single world-class stadium. Gaddafi insisted: "It's not about infrastructure. It's about relationships, and our relationships with FIFA are very strong. After all, they owe us a lot. I'm sure Libya will win."

His father, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, dictator of Libya since he seized power in 1970, had promised to spend $14 billion on new stadiums and everything else necessary to please his third son, who was president of the country's football federation. And, despite analysts' opinions on Libya's chances, Blatter and his friends were always happy to talk to the boy.

"I firmly believe that my personal relationships with prominent figures in FIFA will be a boost to our candidacy," stated the young Gaddafi. "We have fabulous relationships with Mr. Blatter, Julio Grondona, and Franz Beckenbauer. This will be fundamental to our campaign." President Blatter even traveled to Tripoli as a guest of honor in August 2003, when Juventus, a club in which Al-Saadi owned 5% of the shares, beat Parma 2-1 in the Italian Super Cup final, a pre-season match of the Italian championship.

Coach Francesco Scoglio led the Libyan national team to a series of impressive victories. But then, "I was fired because I wouldn't let him [Al-Saadi] play," Scoglio told the Corriere dello Sport newspaper. "And I would never put him on the field, not even for a minute. He's useless as a player. With him on the team, we only lost. When he didn't play, we won."