Justice André Mendonça of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) ordered on Tuesday the release of Virgílio Antônio Ribeiro de Oliveira Filho, former attorney general of the INSS, the federal institute that pays Brazil's pensions. He had been jailed since November of last year in Operation Sem Desconto, the Federal Police investigation into a scheme that diverted money from retirees through irregular association dues.
Mendonça attached conditions. Virgílio must wear an electronic ankle monitor and is barred from contacting other suspects and witnesses, from visiting any association under investigation and from entering INSS or Dataprev facilities, the state company that processes benefit payments. He is also banned from leaving the country. According to G1, the Federal Police found that the former official received R$ 11.9 million through companies and bank accounts in his wife's name from firms tied to the investigated associations.
The justice wrote that pretrial detention no longer holds at this stage. Whatever weight is given to the indictment, he said, "the investigative phase relevant to the assessment of VIRGÍLIO's personal situation has advanced significantly".
"In these conditions, VIRGÍLIO will not be in an objective position to resume the illicit activities attributed to him, as he will be simultaneously barred from contacting the other suspects and witnesses, kept away from the institutional environments connected to the investigated scheme, forbidden from leaving the country and subject to the permanent oversight that comes with electronic monitoring."
Other rulings
In decisions issued the same day, Mendonça replaced pretrial detention with an ankle monitor for Samuel Bomfim Júnior, the accountant of farm group Conafer whom the police describe as a financial operator of the scheme. The justice also removed the ankle monitors of Pedro Corrêa Neto, a former agriculture secretary, José Carlos Oliveira, a former Social Security minister under Bolsonaro, and lawyer Gilmar Stelo. According to the justice, those investigations have advanced enough that the restrictions are no longer justified.
According to CNN Brasil, the police inquiry holds that Virgílio ratified a technical position that allowed a bulk unblocking of pension benefits for association discounts at the request of Contag, one of the entities in the case. The inquiry says he and his wife concealed assets even after the investigation began. He was removed from the agency in April of last year and testified before the joint congressional inquiry into the INSS in October, one month before his arrest.
The ruling comes amid the open crisis between the Supreme Court and the Federal Police. According to Estadão, Justice Fachin is weighing taking over the rapporteurship of the Master Bank and INSS cases to contain the fallout inside the court. Virgílio remains indicted by the police and bound by the restrictions for as long as the investigation lasts.