Brazil Federal Police arrest Senate security officers

Brazil's Federal Police are serving warrants Friday (21 Oct) at Senate in a new operation that investigates congressional police officers for alleged interference with Operation Car Wash and other investigations into scandals involving politicians.

Congressional Police Director Pedro Ricardo Araújo de Carvalho is believed by Federal Police to lead a group that used intelligence to tamper with investigations against senators and former senators.

According to Federal Police, Carvalho “is behind attempts to intimidate Federal Police to stop them from carrying out orders from the Supreme Court at a senator's official apartment.”

Carvalho is close to Senate President Renan Calheiros, who is reported by his press office to be in his home state of Alagoas this Friday.

A total nine warrants are being served. The suspects face charges of armed criminal conspiracy, malfeasance in office, and tampering with investigations of criminal offences. Combined, they can carry jail terms of 14 years and a fine.
Of the arrest warrants served by the Federal Police on Friday morning, four target members of the congressional police—which oversees the security at the Senate—whose director, Pedro Ricardo Araújo de Carvalho, was identified by the Federal Police as the leader of a group using the congressional police intelligence framework to hinder investigations against senators and former senators. Carvalho faced temporary arrest, along with agents Everton Taborda, Geraldo Cézar, and Antônio Tavares. All of them were taken to Federal Police facilities in Brasília. The crackdown had been authorized by a federal court in the Federal District, which also ousted the accused from their positions.
In the order, federal prosecutors state they had access to evidence proving that congressional police officers carried out acts of counter-intelligence in search of wiretaps installed by the Federal Police at the addresses of three senators and one former congress member. The parliamentarians alleged to have been benefited from the scheme are Gleisi Hoffman, of the PT, and Senators Fernando Collor, of the PTC, and Edison Lobão, of the PMDB, and ex-senator and onetime president José Sarney.

*Pedro Peduzzi contributed to this article.

Translated by Mayra Borges / Fabrício Ferreira

*Updated at 5:49pm