On the morning of September 3, hours after the start of Operation “Operação Zargun” that resulted in the arrest of former state Rep. Thiego Santos, Rio State Governor Claudio Castro (PL) T.E. Goias had a conversation with Sports Minister Rafael Picciani (MDB) and warned him that he would acquit him, as O GLOBO revealed at the time. However, the governor’s real intention was not to make his ally resume his seat in Allerge by causing his deputy, namely T. H. Goias, to automatically lose his mandate, which would save the Legislative Assembly of Rio (Alerg) from having to decide whether or not to continue the arrest of the then deputy. The manoeuvre, carried out as part of the investigation by the Federal Police, is described in the decision of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), which allowed Bacelar’s arrest on Wednesday.
- Understanding “Picciani’s Message”Which prevented Aliraj from making a decision on the arrest of MP TH Goyas, who is being investigated in connection with the CV
- The day before the operation: After changing phone numbers the day before the arrest, TH Goyas made contact with Rodrigo Basilar and called the president of Allerg with the number ’01’.
In the text, Moraes cites verbatim the statement of the police authority that “the notorious Picciani letter, led to the immediate return of a sitting MP to his position, and the removal of TH Goias (his deputy) from parliamentary jurisdiction, as stated in the extraordinary edition of the DOERJ of 3/9/2025” and that such a move would have the aim of “damage control, with the aim of separating the image of ALERJ from the investigated TH”. Goyas, who, as we know, was a political ally and a constant presence at institutional events of the executive and legislative branches.”
The National Police, according to the Moraes decision, considered in the detailed evidence that “the leak of information may have had the primary objective of protecting political agents allied with the criminal organization” and that “the likely primary objective of the obstructive action was to maintain the relationship between these political agents and the Comando Vermelho.”
In his decision, Minister Alexandre de Moraes ordered the ICT Center of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Proderj) and the State Secretariat for Planning and Administration of Rio to provide “records of access, creation, availability of documents and signature, with time, responsible user and other available data” for the operations of the System of Electronic Information of Rio de Janeiro (SEI/RJ) related to the dismissal of Rafael Picciani and the appointment of Rodrigo Dantas Scorzelli as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sports and entertainment in Rio de Janeiro.
The Constitution stipulates that if an MP becomes an accused after receiving his testimony, it is up to Parliament to decide whether to suspend criminal proceedings and even maintain imprisonment or other restrictive measures. The same now applies to the case of Basilar, who was arrested by federal police on Wednesday in Operation Unha e Carne. Alerj has up to 45 days to make this decision.
Claudio Castro wrote on his social networks at the time: “According to my design, State Representative Rafael Picciani resumes his term in the Legislative Assembly. He replaces State Representative T.E. Goias, who was arrested today in a joint action by the Civil and Federal Police and the Public Ministry. Rafael’s return was already scheduled, but given the process carried out today, we decided to present it. The integrated action leaves a very clear message: the law applies to everyone.”
Rafael Picciani (MDB) remains in the position of Deputy State, but his name still appears as Secretary of State for Sport and Recreation on the official page of the Ministry. The current secretary is Rodrigo Scorzelli, who was undersecretary under Picciani.