A Federal Police investigation states that lobbyist Roberta Luchsinger ordered her personal driver and assistant, Ulisses Barbosa, to make cash payments to two senior officials at Brazil's Ministry of Social Development (MDS), the portfolio that runs the Bolsa Familia welfare program, and to a person connected to one of them. The deposits, totaling 60,000 reais in cash, were made on June 2, 2023.

The messages were found on Roberta's phone and published on Wednesday (Sept. 23) by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, which said it had access to the conversations and to the deposit receipts. Folha de S.Paulo confirmed the findings after reviewing the same material and reported that the lobbyist kept stacks of cash in suitcases at her home.

According to the police, one account belongs to Ranniêr Costa Ciríaco, the ministry's deputy executive secretary and currently its third-ranking official. Another belongs to José Martinho Ferreira de Araújo, who now runs the ministry's ceremonial office and once worked as a driver in Minister Wellington Dias's Senate office. The third account, investigators say, belongs to the mother of José Martinho's daughter.

How the payments were made

In the exchanges, Roberta told Ulisses to take the 60,000 reais in cash from her home and deposit it into the three accounts that same day. The assistant voiced concern about the amount and about banking controls, and carried out the order anyway.

"This 60k amount has to be diluted to be deposited... because the bank asks a series of questions," Ulisses wrote. At the bank, he warned: "I'm at the bank now. Anything above 50 thousand a day per CPF, the clerk said the Central Bank is already watching... it triggers a kind of alert. Just letting you know."

Roberta is under investigation, alongside Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha, the eldest son of President Lula of the Workers' Party, in three inquiries into suspected corruption and influence peddling, a crime under Brazilian law. Everyone named is a suspect; none has been charged or convicted over these facts. Earlier stages of the inquiry had already revealed 217,000 reais in payments from the lobbyist to Marco Aurélio Santana Ribeiro, known as Marcola, a former chief of staff at the presidential palace.

Folha reported that the ministry signed a contract with a technology businessman represented by Roberta about six months after the deposits. Contacted by both newspapers, the ministry did not respond, and a lawyer for Ulisses Barbosa could not be reached.

Timeline

• 2014: José Martinho is detained by the Federal Highway Police in Bahia carrying 180,000 reais in cash from Brasília to Piauí, with no proof of its origin; he worked for Wellington Dias's Senate office at the time.
• June 2, 2023: Ulisses Barbosa makes the 60,000-reais deposits on Roberta's orders.
• About six months later: the ministry signs a contract with a technology businessman represented by the lobbyist, according to Folha.
• Sept. 23, 2026: O Estado de S. Paulo publishes the seized messages; Folha confirms it had access to the material.

What the lawyers say

Roberta's lawyer, Roberto Podval, said the defense knew nothing of the conversations. "The defense is unaware of such conversations, insists the case files are under seal and deplores these illegal leaks driven by sheer electoral political interest. We are confident the authorities will not stand idle in the face of such leaks," he said.

Lulinha's lawyer, Marco Aurélio de Carvalho, said the authenticity of the messages cannot be confirmed and denied his client had any part in the deposits. "Fábio reiterates that he has no connection with any kind of irregularity, nor any diversion or suspicion related to public money. He speaks only for himself," he said.

According to Estado, the next step is the Federal Police's review of court-ordered disclosures of Roberta Luchsinger's banking and phone records, to determine whether other officials of the ministry received payments. The inquiries remain sealed and no completion date has been set.