A plan by Senator Flavio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party, Rio de Janeiro) to ease environmental licensing for resorts and large tourism projects in Angra dos Reis, in Rio de Janeiro state, would directly benefit businesses of lawyer Willer Tomaz. Tomaz is a personal friend of the presidential candidate and is under federal police investigation in the inquiry into fraud at the INSS, Brazil's social security institute. The report came from the Mônica Bergamo column of Folha de S.Paulo, published on Monday.
According to Folha, Tomaz owns three properties in Angra dos Reis registered under two of his companies, Friponor and WT Administração de Imóveis. Two sit on Ilha Comprida and one on Ilha do José André. In 2025 he asked Inea, the state environmental agency, what share of one of the plots could be used for tourism operations, according to a document obtained by the newspaper.
Construction work and the mansion disputed with Richarlison
Footage recorded on July 8, 2025 and obtained by the column shows construction on a second property, a mansion valued at around 10 million reais that was at the center of a court dispute with the footballer Richarlison. A second floor is going up, along with rooms separate from the main building, a layout typical of tourism ventures. The previous owner, Antônio Marcos da Silva, who sold the property to the player, told Folha that Tomaz and Flavio Bolsonaro "treated each other as partners" during a visit to the site.
The candidate's office denies that any partnership, business stake or joint venture ever existed between the two. According to Folha, it did not answer the specific questions about the licensing plan. Tomaz also denies any link between the plan and his projects. In a statement, he said he took no part in drafting the idea, was not consulted and had no dealings with the candidate on the matter, and called the connection between the two facts a "thematic coincidence" turned into an insinuation of favoritism with no factual basis.
The federal police operation and the campaign
Tomaz is a longtime friend of Flavio Bolsonaro, whom he often joins on official engagements and private trips, and is also close to Senator Weverton Rocha (PDT, Maranhão), according to Correio Braziliense. On August 4, federal police searched his home in a phase of Operação Sem Desconto, which investigates improper discounts on INSS benefits and suspected money laundering. The force served 18 warrants issued by the Supreme Federal Court in Brasília and in Maranhão state. According to Diário do Centro do Mundo, a federal police report recorded 45.5 million reais in unusual transactions attributed to the lawyer between May and November 2021, though the force has not linked that money directly to the discount scheme. His lawyers say he is not part of the group under investigation and that the search was tied to one of his aircraft, used by Weverton Rocha on a trip.
At a campaign rally in Angra dos Reis on August 29, Flavio called for revising municipal master plans together with city halls so that works on "condominiums, large projects and resorts" can move forward "quickly". He said environmental questions are holding back the region, whose tourism potential he compared with Cancún and Indonesia. The police inquiry remains open at the Supreme Court, and Tomaz's defense says he is available to clarify matters with the authorities. The licensing change stands as a campaign pledge for the October presidential election.