Brazil's Superior Court of Justice (STJ) denies Flávio Bolsonaro's appeal to block investigation into alleged embezzlement scheme.

Fernanda Valente, Conjur - Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Felix Fischer denied a request from Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (Republicanos) to suspend an investigation by the Rio de Janeiro Public Prosecutor's Office into an alleged embezzlement scheme. The decision, confirmed by ConJur, was made this Friday (April 17th), and the proceedings are confidential.

In early March, the senator's defense filed an appeal with the court to try to block the investigation, arguing that the breach of bank and tax secrecy was illegal. The investigation concerns the scheme in Flávio's office when he was a state representative.

In his opinion submitted to the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Deputy Attorney General Roberto Luís Oppermann Thomé endorses the statement from the Rio de Janeiro Public Prosecutor's Office. He affirms that, contrary to what the senator's defense alleges, "there was no indiscriminate intrusion into his account, the analysis of which was limited to the period of 2017 and 2018, when he held the office of State Representative."

The prosecutor says the defense is trying to argue that there were informal communications to COAF (Council for Financial Activities Control) through members of the Public Prosecutor's Office, but that this "does not go beyond speculation."

Suspected of "kickback scheme"

The Rio de Janeiro Public Prosecutor's Office suspects that employees who worked in Flávio's office when he was a state deputy returned part of their salaries to the legislator, in an operation known as "rachadinha" (a scheme involving the misappropriation of public funds). There is also suspicion that the scheme was run by former aide Fabrício Queiroz. 

In April 2019, the bank and tax secrecy of Flávio, Fabrício Queiroz, nine companies linked to them, and 84 other people was broken.

Criminal lawyers interviewed by ConJur consider the breach of confidentiality of so many people at once, without specifying the reason for the measure, to be abusive. The lawyers also criticize the long period covered by the decision — almost 12 years.

Back and forth of decisions

In September, Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes ordered the suspension of all proceedings involving the breach of Flávio's confidentiality in the Queiroz case. The measure was based on a decision by the court's president, Justice Dias Toffoli, who ordered the nationwide suspension of investigations involving data released without judicial authorization by oversight bodies—including the Federal Revenue Service, the COAF (Council for Financial Activities Control), and the Central Bank.  

By majority vote, the Supreme Court plenary session ruled at the end of November that it is possible to share data without authorization between intelligence and oversight agencies and the Public Prosecutor's Office for criminal purposes. 

After the plenary session upheld this ruling, Gilmar Mendes revoked the September decision that suspended the investigations involving Flávio and allowed the investigations to resume.

In February, the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the TJ-RJ (Rio de Janeiro State Court of Justice) denied the senator's Habeas Corpus petition and upheld the order to break his tax and banking secrecy. The case's rapporteur, Judge Antônio Amado, voted to annul the decision that ordered the breach of secrecy. However, Judges Monica Toledo Oliveira and Suimei Meira Cavalieri dissented and upheld the ruling.