‘Crime office’: see how the scheme of civil police officers and other public agents accused by the MP of extorting money from businessmen in SP worked | Fantastic

Scheme set up by police officers and public agents charged millionaire bribes from businessmen

O Fantastic this Sunday (31) revealed the scheme of police and public agents to extort money from businessmen in the interior of São Paulo.

According to the Public Ministry, the group carried out police operations, seized goods and faked the occurrence of irregularities to force the payment of million-dollar bribes.

You will see in this report:

In the city of Indaiatuba, 110 kilometers from the capital, the police seized 23 cars from a dealership as well as the businessmen’s assets and other merchandise, taken in two trucks in the service of the police.

According to an investigation prosecutor, the police entered the establishment, “invaded without a warrant, without any court order”, and accused the business owners of crimes.

The businessmen were taken to the police station, where the extortion was taking place. According to the investigation, the businessmen were threatened by the police.

“We ended up seeing that you have a crime of money laundering, a crime of counterfeit goods, gang formation, illegal possession of a weapon, sexual abuse,” said one of the victims in a statement.

According to the investigation, the accusations were fabricated to put pressure on businesspeople.

In these conversations at the police station, a promise was made: all the allegations raised by the police officers during the operations would be forgotten, the goods would be returned and everything would go back to the way it was before, but with one condition: “they want 3 million reais”, recalled one of the victims in testimony.

The suspect of being the head of the criminal organization is Clésio de Oliveira Filho, the chief delegate of the First Police District of Indaiatuba. It was in this place that the suspects investigated by the MP-SP chose their victims and agreed on the amount of the bribe. According to prosecutors, the place operated as if it were a “crime office”.

The businessmen said they participated in a meeting at the police station where they were accompanied by lawyer Hélio dos Santos Júnior, Rubens’ partner.

They were received by civil police officers André da Silva and Carla Moreira, by municipal guard Jackson da Silva and by Márcio Pereira Mendes, who is not even from the police.

“It was Márcio ‘treme-treme’ who was driving, but the person who humiliated the most was Carla. She had a face of mockery, a face of humiliation as if we were anyone in front of her. Authority over us”, said one of the victims in testimony.

“They had put some drugs on the table and if we didn’t resolve it, didn’t make an agreement, they would say something like that to incriminate us,” said another unidentified victim.

After much discussion, they reached an agreement: R$1 million in bribes, to be paid in R$500,000 down payment and weekly installments of R$25,000.

The businessmen and the goods were released and a police report was made stating that the invoices for the seized products had been presented.

This week, police chief Clésio, the two investigators, the municipal guard and others involved were arrested. The businessmen’s three lawyers, Rubens Filho, Hélio dos Santos Júnior and Marcelo Savioli, were also arrested accused of participating in the crime. (Read more below)

Fábio Moraes tried to escape, but was also arrested. He was an employee of the Indaiatuba Municipal Social Assistance Secretariat whose role was to threaten traders into paying bribes.

According to the MP, 14 people formed the “crime cabinet”, including police officers, public agents and people from other spheres. “It is a group strategically formed so that each of them could contribute to this collective action”, stated prosecutor Paulo Carolis.

The Public Ministry has already identified new victims and requested the blocking of up to R$10 million from the accounts of each of those investigated.

For MP prosecutors, the businessmen’s lawyers, who were supposed to defend their clients, ended up getting involved in the criminal scheme.

“The lawyers in this case worked to help ensure that this extortion and bribery were effectively paid,” said prosecutor Paulo Carolis.

In his statement, one of the dealership’s partners said that he learned from his lawyer, Marcelo Savioli, that he would be accused of money laundering for a drug trafficker if he did not make a settlement of R$1 million with the criminals.

“Here’s the deal: you’re all wrong. If you don’t make a deal with the guys, you’ll be arrested”, recalled the partner, who was not identified.

The bribe money was counted at the lawyers’ office and they were the ones who paid the bribe, according to the investigation.

O Fantastic tried to listen to a representative of the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat, in a note, the body informed that the appropriate measures will be taken when the investigation is completed.

Indaiatuba City Hall said that it has already removed the civil servants involved and that the commissioners are being fired.

The lawyers of Clésio de Oliveira Filho, Carla Moreira and Marcelo Savioli said they will prove their clients’ innocence. André da Silva, Jackson da Silva, Fábio Moraes and Hélio dos Santos did not want to speak. O Fantastic did not receive a response from Rubens Filho’s representative.

In the case of Márcio Pereira Mendes, who is on the run, the lawyer was not located.