Sergeant Luís Marcos dos Reis, former assistant to former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), assumed that he participated in the coup acts on January 8 of this year, which culminated in the invasion and depredation of the buildings of the Three Powers in Brasília. The military also confirmed that he went to the Bolsonarist camp in front of the Army headquarters about two months before the criminal demonstration.
Reis, however, denied an alignment with the coup defended by Bolsonarists, despite the cited occurrences and coup-like messages sent to Bolsonaro’s former assistant Mauro Cid. “Went there after lunch one day. I didn’t know it was forbidden to go. I went to see what it was”, said Reis about his presence in the camp, in testimony to the parliamentarians of the Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI), which investigates the acts referring to January 8, this Thursday (24).
Reis, however, showed support for Bolsonarists who were camped in messages sent to Mauro Cid. On November 13, 2022, Army sergeant Luis Marcos Dos Reis stated that it would be “easier” for him to help the Bolsonaristas demonstrations that were taking place in front of the Army headquarters “than to get (the guys) out of there” .
Regarding January 8, Reis stated that he arrived at the place around 5 pm, went down the Esplanada dos Ministérios, took some photos and recordings and returned home. The sergeant also shared “several footage of the demonstrations on the Esplanada dos Ministérios together with his wife and one of his children”, according to the PF report on the expertise carried out on Mauro Cid’s cell phone.
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The Federal Police also found in the messages exchanged between the two the draft of a decree for the Guarantee of Law and Order (GLO) that could support a coup d’état. The GLO is a legal instrument that allows the President of the Republic to summon the Armed Forces in times of disturbance of public order.
In the dispatch that authorized Cid’s testimony to the PF in relation to this case, the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes declares that the material addresses “the possibility of employing the Armed Forces exceptionally, with the aim of ensuring the functioning autonomous and harmonic of the powers of the Union”. In other messages, Mauro Cid and Reis talk about persuading Army authorities and collaborating with the GLO.
Both were arrested during the operation that investigates fraud in vaccination cards, like that of former President Jair Bolsonaro. It was after this operation that the PF began to investigate the alleged participation of those involved in preparing for a coup d’état. About the alleged scheme of fraud in vaccination cards, Reis was silent when questioned by parliamentarians. He was armed with a habeas corpus that allowed him not to answer questions that might incriminate him.
Atypical financial movements
Reis is also suspected of paying the bills of the former first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, with cash from the construction materials company, Cedro Líbano Comércio de Madeira e Materials de Construção, which had contracts with the Bolsonaro government.
According to the CPMI, Reis received at least R$18,000 from the company. The sergeant confirmed that he requested the money from the company’s owner, Vanderlei Barros, whom he refers to as a “friend”. He could not explain, however, the reason for the transfers.
In addition to the amounts received by Cedro do Líbano, the sergeant moved around BRL 3.34 million in his accounts, between February 1st of last year and May 8th of this year. For the Financial Activities Control Council (Coaf), these are atypical movements, since his monthly salary is close to R$ 13,000, including trinkets. Reis argued that the high values refer to an alleged “consortium” frequently formed between friends in the barracks where he was present.
Part of this amount, R$70,000 and R$11,700, were sent to Mauro Cid resulting from the sale of a Toyota Yaris vehicle and, subsequently, for repairing the vehicle, respectively.
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“Attention is drawn to the apparent incompatibility between the size/structure vis a vis and the volume transacted on credit in the analyzed period, which supposedly can demonstrate that the customer is using the account to transact resources from undeclared activities”, says an excerpt from the Coaf report used by CPMI.
A PF report goes in the same direction. “Some transactions were identified between the accounts of the company Cedro do Líbano, or people directly or indirectly linked to it with Luis Marcos do Reis, assigned at the time of the facts to the Presidency of the Republic’s Orders Department.”
The company Cedro Líbano, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Goiânia, was the beneficiary of payments in the amount of R$ 299 thousand from the federal government between 2020 and 2022. Of this total amount, an amount of R$ 188 thousand was allocated by the state-owned Companhia for the Development of the São Francisco and Parnaíba Valleys (Codevasf).
According to the public company, the goods acquired by the company were delivered in accordance with specifications established in an electronic auction notice, of the lowest price type. The company also points out that it is unaware of any relationships that may exist between partners or family members of partners of supplier companies and third parties.
The report got in touch by telephone with the logging company Cedro do Líbano, but the company did not take a position.
Editing: Geisa Marques
