Brazil's Federal Police has told the Supreme Federal Court (STF) that federal deputy Cezinha de Madureira (PL-SP) is the central figure in a suspected scheme that sold influence over justices of Brazil's high courts, the tribunais superiores that sit just below the STF. The details were reported by news site G1, which reviewed the police filing and the decision by Justice Flávio Dino. The congressman was served with search and seizure warrants on Monday (14) in the third phase of Operation Transparência. According to G1, both the police filing and Dino's ruling state clearly that the justices and judges mentioned in the intercepted conversations are not targets of the investigation and are not suspected of any wrongdoing.
Cezinha de Madureira is a pastor in the Assembleia de Deus church of the Madureira branch and one of the most influential evangelical politicians in São Paulo state, according to G1. Investigators say he used the institutional access that comes with his mandate to give clients the impression that he could sway decisions by judges. In his ruling, Dino wrote that the deputy used the "ascendancy of the parliamentary function" to trade on that perceived influence. The police describe a division of labor between the deputy and two lawyers.
The role of each suspect, according to the police
The deputy, police say, was in charge of direct contacts with justices of the high courts and of the so-called "despachos", private meetings to discuss pending cases. Valéria Rodrigues Linhares, a lawyer and former congressional candidate in the Federal District whom the police identify as the deputy's wife, drafted, reviewed and signed service contracts and documents for credit assignments worth millions of reais. Mariângela Fialek, known as "Tuca", at the time a civil servant at the Chamber of Deputies and already under investigation over suspected diversion of congressional budget funds, recruited the cases and prepared legal briefs. Her phone was forensically examined in the first phase of the operation, and that analysis is cited among the grounds for the new measures.
Contingent contracts and cash
Messages obtained by investigators show negotiations over specific cases then before the STF. In the defense of the mayor of Beberibe, in Ceará state, contracts set a fee of 500,000 reais if the ruling went the client's way. In the defense of a former city secretary of Belford Roxo, in Rio de Janeiro state, documents provided payments of 1 million reais, with addenda reaching 2 million reais conditioned on the revocation of pretrial detention. In the conversations, the deputy reported back on meetings and audiences with judges, using phrases such as "já falei" (already spoke), "despachei sim" (yes, I followed up) and "assunto reforçado agora" (issue reinforced now).
Dino also moved to the STF the inquiry into the seizure of 510,000 reais in cash from Valéria at Congonhas airport in São Paulo on August 25. To investigators, the cash suggests fees paid outside the banking system to make financial tracking harder. The justice authorized searches at the deputy's and the lawyer's homes and offices in Brasília and São Paulo, and the seizure of valuables, vehicles and sums above 10,000 reais. He denied a police request to search the deputy's office inside the Chamber of Deputies, finding no concrete grounds to justify a search in the legislative workplace.
In a statement, the defense said the congressman "is certain that the facts will be duly clarified in the due process of law, with the demonstration that no irregularity was committed". A second statement released on Monday denied any wrongdoing and criticized the operation for taking place amid a "political and electoral circumstance". Three days before the warrants, the deputy had posted a video saying his phone was stolen on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo. As G1 reports, Dino signed the search decision on September 5, six days before the date the deputy claimed.
Operation Transparência grew out of an inquiry opened in December 2025 into suspected diversion of congressional budget amendments, known as emendas, and now covers corruption, money laundering and influence peddling. The case remains with Dino at the STF, where he handles the lawsuits on the allocation and transparency of amendment funds. The next steps depend on the forensic review of the material seized on Monday.