The 1st Court of Tax Crimes, Criminal Organization and Money Laundering of the State Justice of São Paulo determined the blocking of R$ 40 million in properties and buses of members of the PCC and the accountant João Muniz Leite, who was responsible for the Income Tax of the ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and, to this day, takes care of accounting and shares a room with companies owned by PT’s son, Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha.
The request was made by delegate Fernando Santiago, and endorsed by the State Public Ministry of São Paulo. In addition to Muniz, it affects drug dealer Anselmo Becheli Santa Fausta, Cara Preta, considered one of the main drug suppliers of the First Capital Command (PCC), and his partner, Silvio Luiz Ferreira, aka “Cebola”, head of Sintonia do Progresso, the sector that takes care of the domestic trafficking maintained by the faction. Santa Fausta was killed in December 2021 in an ambush on the east side.
The justice measure affected 250 buses from UPBus, the bus company bought by Santa Fausta, allegedly with the money laundered in lotteries. UPBus has a R$ 660 million contract with the City of São Paulo and takes care of 13 bus lines in the east side. In addition to Santa Fausta, Cebola, who is on the run, is on the company’s board. The hijacking of buses and not of the company’s accounts served to prevent it from paralyzing its operation, harming users.
The accountant is suspected of being the “operator of a complex money laundering scheme through Federal Lottery prizes”. As Estadão showed, Muniz, along with his wife, won federal lotteries 55 times in 2021 alone. According to the final count by the Civil Police, the amount laundered by the accountant in lottery prizes reached R$ 40 million. Of the total, R$ 16 million remained with the accountant and the rest would have been with Santa Fausta. On several occasions, the values of the bets exceeded the prizes obtained, with the exception of two prizes of R$ 16 million in the Mega Sena.
Relatives
Former President Lula is not the target of the investigation. Muniz is the ex-president’s family accountant to the present day. The JML Assessoria Contábil e Fiscal logo bears the registration documents, at the Board of Trade of São Paulo, in February 2022, of the most recent company created by Lulinha, LLF Tech Participações LTDA, based in the apartment where the former president’s son resides. The property is in the name of businessman Jonas Suassuna, who was Lulinha’s partner and formal owner of the Santa Bárbara ranch, in Atibaia, the property for which Lula was prosecuted in Lava Jato.
João Muniz’s lawyer, Jorge Delmanto, told Estadão that he will “access the process”, and then comment on the investigation. “I only advance that the Accounting company has been operating for more than 30 years, with more than 60 employees and an average of 1000 active clients, being a company focused on professionalism, legality, unblemished and with an ethical posture in all cases”, he said.
The report also sought Lula’s advice and his defense and that of his son. Lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins, who defends Lula, said he did not know whether Muniz still provides services to the PT. Criminalist Fábio Tofic, who defends Lulinha, did not comment. The defense of the Santa Fausta family and the other members of the PCC investigated by Denarc was also not located by the report.
Source: CNN Brasil
