The operation launched by the Federal Police (PF) last Friday (12/12) placed lawyer Mariângela Fialek (featured photo), 51, at the center of an investigation into the deviation of parliamentary amendments from the so-called secret budget, when she worked as an advisor to federal deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL). This is, however, not the first scandal involving his parliamentary mandate.
In 2014, while serving in the same position alongside Senator Romero Jucá (MDB), Mariângela’s name appeared in another controversy. She allegedly sent the construction company Odebrecht a draft legislative text, then still under discussion in the Senate, even before it was presented to the other parliamentarians.
The content would be to favor the construction company involved in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country. The email was sent to the construction company during the second half of 2014, when the National Congress was discussing Provisional Measures (MP) 651 and 656, which interested the construction company because they concerned tax incentives.
According to the public prosecutor, the content of the email mentioned changes to an opinion prepared for the MP and which had been discussed between Odebrecht management and the MDB senator.
Other emails exchanged by construction company executives also named Jucá as the articulator to the National Congress of changes that would benefit the company.
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Mariangela Fialek, known as Tuca, right arm of Arthur Lira
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Mariangela Fialek
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Mariangela Fialek has a degree in Legal and Social Sciences from PUC-RS and a Masters in State Law from USP.
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Mariangela Fialek was Lira’s right-hand woman and controlled the spreadsheet of the so-called secret budget
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Jucá became accused in the case known as Lava Jato for corruption and money laundering crimes, after reporting that he had received a bribe of R$150,000 from Odebrecht in exchange for the insertion of elements of interest to the construction company in two deputies being processed in the National Congress.
The amount was paid through an official donation to his son, Rodrigo de Holanda Menezes Jucá, then a candidate for vice governor of the state of Roraima by the MDB. The payment of the alleged unfair advantage was made by transfer to the leadership of the political party.
In the action in which Romero appeared as a defendant, Mariângela was only heard as a witness. In 2024, the Federal District Court ordered the dismissal of the case against the former senator for alleged crimes of passive corruption and money laundering.
The acquittal was due to the unfounded nature of the accusation. The judge concluded that the federal prosecution “failed to prove the commission of the crimes”, the measure of acquittal having been imposed.
complete CV in politics
Fialek has worked in the House of Representatives since 2021. During Lira’s tenure as Speaker of the House, she served as head of the Special Council in the Office of the Speaker of the House. Currently, she is head of the Progressive Party (PP) in the House.
According to Fialek’s LinkedIn profile, she holds a degree in legal and social sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS) and a master’s degree in state law from the University of São Paulo (USP). In addition, she presents herself as a lecturer in law and political science.
She also served as tax advisor to the Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco e do Parnaíba (Codevasf) and was a member of the supervisory board of Caixa Econômica Federal.
She also held other public positions, such as Special Advisor for Institutional Relations at the Ministry of Regional Development, in 2021; and Undersecretary for Government Affairs of the State Government of São Paulo, the same year. At the Presidency of the Republic, he held the position of Deputy Head of Parliamentary Affairs.
Splice deviation
The former advisor to MP Arthur Lira is considered the operator of the scheme aimed at hijacking parliamentary amendments to the secret budget. The PF investigation highlights that no decision on the inappropriate allocation of resources would be made without the prior approval of the official, known as Tuca.
The PF launched Operation Transparency on Friday (12/12) to execute two search and seizure warrants issued by STF Minister Flávio Dino, rapporteur of the case. The action against Mariangela is based on an investigation into crimes of embezzlement, ideological lying and corruption. Lira was not targeted by these measures.
According to his defense, the operation does not attribute to him the practice of a “functional or criminal irregularity”. The objective would simply be to have access to information relating to the work of Lira’s former advisor on the allocation of amendments to the secret budget.
At the time of the project, Tuca worked as an advisor to the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, then headed by Lira. The official was known for processing all amendments passed by the House, including committee amendments, required amendments, and supplemental amendments.
The deputies interviewed by the PF indicated that Tuca had a “general reading of the Chamber” to assign amendments. This action by Mariângela would have taken place in the name of Lira. The municipalities of Alagoas, his electoral stronghold, were the most affected by the unequal distribution of amendments to the secret budget.
If, on the one hand, the investigation shows that Tuca maintained strict control over the deputies and parties who would obtain the resources, on the other hand, this allocation was done informally. The change of municipality to transfer millions of reais, for example, was noted on a handwritten sheet. Mariângela Fialek even compared this organization to a “bakery account”. Orders were also given verbally.
According to the company, the project was carried out through the São Francisco and Parnaíba Valleys Development Company (Codevasf), of which Tuca was the fiscal advisor. This position intensified the evidence that Lira’s advisor at the time managed the allocation of resources with the presidency of the House.
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