President Lula (PT) declared this Thursday (18) that if his son is involved in fraud at the INSS (National Social Security Institute), he will be investigated. He was questioned about possible links between Fábio Luis Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha, with Careca of the INSS, which is one of the main targets of the PF’s investigation into fraud in INSS association discounts.
“No one will go free. If my son is involved in this, he will be investigated. If (Finance Minister Fernando) Haddad is involved, he will be investigated, (Civil House Chief Minister) Rui Costa will be investigated with this seriousness,” he said.
“It is not possible to admit, in a country where millions of retirees earn the minimum wage, that someone is trying to expropriate the money of retirees with false promises. What I can say is that with regard to the Presidency of the Republic, everything will be done so that we can teach this country a lesson,” he continued.
The PF investigation underwent a new operation this Thursday (18). She carried out searches against Senator Weverton Rocha (PDT-MA) this Thursday in a new phase of Operation Without Discount, which is investigating fraud in reductions on retirements and pensions of INSS beneficiaries.
Weverton is the leader of the PDT in the Senate and one of the deputy leaders of the government.
He came into the crosshairs of members of the INSS CPI, which investigates benefits abuse, after people linked to him appeared in investigations into the fraudulent scheme.
The INSS scandal was one of the government’s main crises this year and led Lula to fire Carlos Lupi from the Social Security Ministry.
The action also arrested the ministry’s executive secretary, Adroaldo da Cunha Portal, who was once an advisor to Weverton. He will be placed in preventive home detention.
The current Minister of Social Security, Wolney Queiroz, announced that he had decided to dismiss Adroaldo after the operation. Federal Prosecutor Felipe Cavalcante e Silva, current legal advisor to the ministry, will assume the role of executive secretary. Weverton’s home in Brasilia is one of the addresses in the searches and seizures. There was no action at the parliamentarian’s office in the Senate.
Ministry advisers also said the agency and INSS “will continue to actively contribute to investigations and work to recover resources diverted by this scheme begun under the previous government, but interrupted under this government.”
Accused of being one of the operators of the scheme, Antunes told the INSS CPI that he went to a ribs barbecue at the senator’s house, when he spoke to him about the regulation of the sale of cannabis derivatives – in other words, a business representation activity unrelated to pension discounts. Weverton is also rapporteur for the hearing of Jorge Messias, Lula’s candidate for the STF (Federal Supreme Court), in the Senate.
Messias’ approval for the job depends on senators’ assessment, and Weverton’s figure was relevant to government coordination during the hearing.
The senator was a bridge between Lula and Congress in this matter, since relations with the President of the House, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), were strained by the appointment of the lawyer. Alcolumbre’s option, with the support of other parliamentarians, was Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), dismissed by Lula.
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