Brazil's Federal Police and the Federal Prosecutor's Office (MPF) carried out search and seizure warrants on Thursday morning (27) against the speaker of the city council of Bariri, in the interior of Sao Paulo state, Ricardo Prearo (PSD), a businessman and councilman, as part of an investigation into suspected smuggling and money laundering. Besides the councilman's home, agents searched companies linked to him and addresses in Foz do Iguacu, in Parana state, on the border with Paraguay, according to g1.
According to Jornal Candeia, a local news outlet, four warrants were served at residential and commercial addresses in Bariri. One of the searches took place at a house in the Jardim Beltrame neighborhood, and another at a company in the town's rural area. Residents and passers-by were called in to witness the procedures, and electronic devices were reportedly seized. The Federal Police press office in Foz do Iguacu confirmed to the newspaper that the investigation concerns smuggling and money laundering, with targets in Parana and in the interior of Sao Paulo, but said it would not provide further details.
The sequence of events so far is short. The warrants were executed simultaneously in Bariri and Foz do Iguacu on Thursday morning (27). Later that day, Prearo issued a statement confirming he had been targeted by the searches. On Friday (28), the operation gained wider attention with coverage by TV TEM, Globo's regional affiliate, which contacted the Bariri city council's press office and had received no reply by the time its report was last updated.
What the defense says
In a statement, the councilman said he appears in the proceedings only as a person mentioned and that he cooperated with the authorities:
"I clarify that I was the target of a procedure by the competent authorities, in which I appear as someone mentioned. I stress, however, that all the information requested was duly provided and clarified to the authorities," Prearo said, adding that he remains available for any further clarification.
So far there is no record of arrest requests in the operation, which remains at the search and seizure stage. The next step in the inquiry is the analysis of the seized material by the Federal Police, with no date announced by the authorities. Prearo faces the investigation as a free man and, like anyone under investigation in Brazil, is presumed innocent: no charges have been filed by the MPF at this point.