União Brasil leaders in seven states, including places like Rio, Bahia and Amapá, have accumulated attrition this year due to Federal Police (PF) investigations that affect either the leaders themselves or their close allies. In the most recent case, the president of the Legislative Assembly of Rio (Alerj), Rodrigo Bacellar, was arrested on suspicion of disclosing a PF operation against state deputy TH Joias (MDB). Other investigations, ranging from deviations from parliamentary amendments to pension fund contributions in Banco Master newspapers, have also damaged the party leadership.
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The list of leaders cited in different investigations includes the national president of the Union, Antonio Rueda, and deputies Elmar Nascimento (BA) and Pedro Lucas Fernandes (MA), respectively former and current leaders of the party in the House. Along with the revealed cases, relations between the party and the Lula (PT) government have deteriorated and União has ordered its members to cede their positions in recent months.
Rueda, who has already publicly exchanged barbs with Lula, is one of the names closest to Bacellar, arrested by the PF as part of the “Unha e Carne” operation, which began on Wednesday. Tomorrow, Alerj will hold a session to vote on whether to maintain or revoke the arrest.
Even if the release takes place, the operation generates tensions for União Brasil de Rio, whose state board is chaired by Bacellar. Rueda plans to run for state deputy in 2026 and has already given other examples of alignment to the Alerj leader. Last month, the Valor newspaper revealed that Rueda had requested the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) that the party be admitted to defend Bacellar in the trial of the Ceperj case, in which the state deputy could be impeached for abuse of economic power in the last elections. Contacted by GLOBO, Rueda did not respond.
Rueda himself, although not formally investigated, was cited in operations Carbono Oculto, launched in August, and Poço de Lobato, in November, in which the PF is investigating signs of fraud and evasion in the fuel sector.
In the first action, a plane pilot told the PF that Rueda was the real owner of the planes used by members of a criminal faction. The second affected the company Refit, whose owner, Ricardo Magro, was already acting as a DJ at a family event in Rueda, as reported by GLOBO columnist Lauro Jardim. The União Brasil leader has previously said he did not own the plane and denied any involvement in the irregularities being investigated in the operations.
Other PT administrations have already experienced turbulence with the Centrão parties due to the progress of police investigations. However, political scientist Marco Antônio Teixeira, professor at FGV, sees different circumstances in the current tension with União Brasil.
— Dilma (Roussef) lost the support of Congress when Lava-Jato arrived. Lula manages not to lock himself away. União Brasil, which no longer effectively supported the government, was the one that emerged the smallest, notably because these operations hindered the formation of the federation with the PP — he estimated.
União Brasil’s influence on public pension institutions also affected the acronym’s leaders after the Central Bank last month liquidated Banco Master on suspicion of fraudulent management. The same day, the PF launched Operation “Compliance Zero”, which led to the arrest of Master’s owner, Daniel Vorcaro – he obtained habeas corpus from the Federal Court and was released last weekend.
Pension funds under the authority of the party are among the main buyers of Master shares, since the end of 2023. The biggest buyer was Rioprevidência, which contributed 970 million reais under the leadership of Deivis Antunes, considered close to the leaders of União Brasil in the state. Antunes, a lawyer by training, has already worked in another pension fund and in legal proceedings alongside the former Secretary of State for Transport, André Nahass, another Union appointee to the Rio government.
There were also relevant investments in Master shares of the Amapá funds, with R$400 million, and Amazonas, with R$50 million. The Amapá Institute is headed by Jocildo Lemos, member of the state executive of União Brasil and ally of Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP). The senator denies having anything to do with these investments. And the Amapá pension institute says the contributions “strictly followed the rules of the national financial system.”
Amazonas’ contribution received the approval of the former president of the fund, Ary Renato Vasconcelos, also a member of the Union’s executive board in the state. Before that, Ary was an accountant for the 2022 election campaign of Governor Wilson Lima, who leads the party in Amazonas. The state government says Lima’s ally had the “technical capacity” to make these contributions.
The investigations into the parliamentary amendments also affect those close to União Brasil leaders. One of the PF’s actions, Operation “Overclean”, even arrested a cousin of federal deputy Elmar Nascimento during an investigation into the diversion of resources intended for Campo Formoso (BA). The city is an electoral stronghold for Elmar, who is part of the party’s executive in Bahia.
The case is pending before the Federal Court (STF), responsible for judging politicians with privileged competence, like Elmar. The MP denies any involvement in irregularities.
Elmar was replaced this year as leader of União Brasil in the Chamber by deputy Pedro Lucas Fernandes (MA), also cited in a PF investigation into the attribution of the amendments. The investigation was opened in November, as determined by the STF, after a GLOBO report revealed that the resources allocated by the deputy to the municipality of Arari had disappeared from the town hall’s coffers. Pedro Lucas, president of the Maranhão Union, said he had no knowledge of how the funds were used and said it was up to City Hall to “account” for their use.
Another case falling under the jurisdiction of the STF is an investigation into irregularities in the purchase of robotic kits in Alagoas with funds from the secret budget. The PF carried out an operation, in 2023, against the president of the local board of União Brasil, Luciano Cavalcante. The same year, the court found nullities and closed the investigation. However, subsequently Minister Flávio Dino sent a report from the Federal Court of Auditors on the case to the General Prosecutor’s Office, in order to assess the opening of a new investigation. GLOBO was unable to contact Cavalcante.
In Sergipe, former MP André Moura, president of the Union State Directorate, reached a non-criminal prosecution agreement with the STF to overturn an eight-year prison sentence for embezzlement of public funds in the town of Pirambu (SE). The agreement provided for the return of R$300,000 to the municipality, to “repair the damage caused by the crime perpetrated”.
The case, however, continues to unfold in the municipality, one of the electoral bases of Moura, who intends to run for Senate for Sergipe in 2026. Last month, Judge Rinaldo Nascimento asked the STF to share the complaint against Moura, to continue the procedure in the State Court of Justice.
This affair put Moura under severe strain within the Rio government, where he was appointed secretary to Governor Cláudio Castro. Lawyer Victor Travancas, a former adviser to the Civil House, resigned two weeks ago and accused Moura of committing illegal acts.
— Bacellar’s crimes are even in small claims, close to the crimes committed by André Moura. He should have been arrested, but he made a deal with the public prosecutor, Travancas said.
Contacted by the report, Moura did not respond.
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