Sao Paulo's Institute of Criminalistics rejected 27 electronic devices seized by the state Civil Police in the investigation into the financing of the film "Dark Horse", a biopic of former president Jair Bolsonaro. According to Folha de S.Paulo, which reviewed the rejection records, gaps in the packaging seals made it possible to remove the items or access the devices' data without breaking the security seals. The documents list 13 USB drives, nine laptops and five cell phones.
The refusals came in two rounds. On June 2, the day after the searches, the institute sent back four guias de remessa, the chain-of-custody forms that track seized evidence, because the packages had openings large enough to remove the contents. "The forms 278035, 277890, 278028 and 277899 show a gap large enough to remove the item to be examined," the first rejection record states. The rejected equipment included USB drives seized at addresses of Make One and Complexys/Fast Future, companies subcontracted by the Instituto Conhecer Brasil (ICB) to carry out the internet program.
On June 3, forensic examiner Vivian Menezes rejected 13 more lots, whose openings allowed cables to be connected to cell phones and laptops.
"The forms show a gap large enough for a power or data transfer cable to be inserted, which makes it possible to manipulate data inside the device."
The examiners attached photographs of what they called a "formal defect in the plastic wrapping" and returned the devices to the police station so the seals could be redone, InfoMoney reports. After the re-packing, the case file went from 17 to 18 evidence forms, a sign that at least one package was split during the process. A single form grouped ten USB drives.
The case
The devices were collected in searches carried out on June 1 at homes and companies tied to ICB, an organization chaired by Karina Ferreira da Gama. She also runs Go Up Entertainment, the producer of "Dark Horse". The Sao Paulo Civil Police inquiry, code-named Operação Wi-Fi, investigates suspected fraud and embezzlement in a 108 million reais contract between ICB and the Sao Paulo city government to install and maintain 5,000 free internet access points in low-income communities. One hypothesis under investigation is that part of the public money was steered to private ventures linked to Karina, including the film.
The records became public on Sunday, September 13, when Flávio Dino, a justice of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Brazil's highest court, lifted the secrecy of the investigation and consolidated state and federal inquiries under his docket. In his decision, according to InfoMoney, Dino wrote that the hypothesis of a "sophisticated scheme" to divert public funds had grown stronger, and that federal deputy Mário Frias (PL-SP) would occupy, "in the hypothetical terrain of the investigation", a leadership role in the alleged "criminal architecture". The Federal Police says the flow of money between the lawmaker, ICB and a company called Complexsys formed a "closed financial circuit".
Frias denies any wrongdoing. On Thursday, September 10, he called the police operation a "smoke screen", said he was ready to cooperate and hand over documents, and said he expects the case to be closed. No one named in the inquiry has been charged so far. The consolidated investigations continue at the STF, and the material gathered by the Sao Paulo Civil Police has been shared with the Federal Police under Dino's order.