The request to the Attorney General of the Republic seeks to determine if there are parliamentarians who have committed the crime of extortion following the public scandal that included cross accusations among senators.
Brazil.- Senator Alessandro Vieira, vice president of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) on Betting, presented a formal complaint to the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR). The request aims to investigate suspicions around an extortion scheme involving businesspeople from the betting sector and members of the parliamentary investigative body.
According to the complaints already in the possession of the Federal Police (PF), the role of Silvio de Assis, a well-known Brazilian lobbyist, who allegedly extorted betting house owners to exempt them from being investigated by the CPI, is being investigated. Moreover, the extortion network would have the consent of members of the CPI itself, who might even be part of the criminal network along with the lobbyist.
In response, Vieira requested that an investigation be expedited to definitively determine what happened inside the CPI and who the senators involved might be.
In the request presented to the PGR, Alessandro Vieira highlighted the seriousness of the suspicions. He stated that, if the accusations are proven, those involved could be considered responsible for extortion. "Demanding large sums of money to prevent businesspeople from being summoned to testify at the CPI is a behavior that could constitute the aforementioned crime," said Vieira.
The senator also highlighted that, if there is evidence of political involvement, they could be considered responsible not only for extortion but also for administrative misconduct.
Vieira's request comes after rumors began circulating that the Betting CPI might cease its functions by decision of the Senate President, Rodrigo Pacheco. The CPI was installed in November and is scheduled to operate until April of the next year, however, Pacheco seeks to end it earlier in response to the scandal around the versions that betting site owners were being victims of extortion and harassment by the parliamentarians themselves, some of whom are part of the commission.
Pacheco does not have the regulatory power to end a CPI established by the Senate, but he can create agreements capable of emptying the commission, ordering, for example, that members stop attending the sessions.
Last week, after talking with Senator Soraya Thronicke, the CPI's rapporteur, during a collegiate session, Senator Ciro Nogueira sought the President of Congress to inform him about the suspicions that a well-known lobbyist from Brasilia was extorting businesspeople, allegedly in collaboration with members of the commission.
Ciro Nogueira informed the President of the Senate that he had received information that the lobbyist Silvio de Assis had asked a businessperson for R$ 40m (USD 6.6m) to prevent him from being summoned to testify at the CPI, claiming to have influence over certain congressmen. The scheme replicates a well-known criminal method: parliamentarians submit requests summoning company representatives to testify. Then, the lobbyist approaches the company, says he has access and influence over certain congressmen, and asks for a sum of money to reverse the summons. In the conversation with Pacheco, Senator Nogueira reported that the plot is already being investigated by the Federal Police.
According to VEJA, Silvio de Assis, the lobbyist in question, is a very well-known character in the parallel universe of Brasilia politics. Versions indicate that he has powerful friends in different parties and is one of the country's main lobbyists. Moreover, he was arrested in 2018 when a businessperson said he had been waiting for over five years to register an entity, when Silvio de Assis approached him and asked for R$ 3m (USD 500,000) to "solve" the problem. The extortion was documented in audio and video, de Assis was accused of corruption, but the case has not yet been judged. Regarding the CPI, he claims he does not know why his name was involved in the case and says he closely follows the work of the commission.
See also: Online betting platforms in Brazil: irregularities in the authorization process are reported
Without directly accusing Soraya Thronicke, Nogueira stated that the rapporteur maintains a close relationship with the lobbyist. The parliamentarian admits she knows Assis, but emphasized that she does not have a friendly relationship with him. "This is defamation, a slander," she stated. Then, she affirmed that, indeed, there are strong indications that something serious is happening behind the scenes at the CPI, but not in relation to her. The senator says she heard an audio message sent to a businessperson called to testify in which a senator asked for R$ 100m (USD 16m) to "resolve the matter with Soraya."
