Brazilian federal police have launched an investigation into the former intelligence chief during Jair Bolsonaro's administration because they suspect he organized a major illegal espionage operation against rivals of the then-president, including a governor-turned-minister, judges, parliamentarians, Politicians, journalists… In total there would be around 30,000 people, as the head of the federal police announced a few weeks ago. The agents registered this Thursday several addresses linked to Alexandre Ramagen, who headed the Brazilian Intelligence Service (ABIN) on behalf of the right-wing extremists in the period 2019-2022. The 51-year-old police commissioner Ramagen is now a federal deputy.
Since Ramagen is a man very close to the former president, this case reinforces Bolsonaro's multiple concerns. The 68-year-old retired soldier has faced various investigations and trials since losing the presidency and the immunity he enjoyed for three decades in 2022. The current president will be disqualified for abuse of power and will no longer be able to run in the next two presidential elections. However, he is also being investigated for inciting the coup attack on the headquarters of the three powers in order to keep some jewels gifted by the Saudi royal family. .. A former justice minister and Bolsonaro's personal secretary are jailed for the anti-democratic acts of January 2023.
The Supreme Court, which ordered the operation this Thursday, suspects that Ramagen was part of a “criminal organization that wanted to illegally monitor people and authorities” for the “good of the Bolsonaro family”.
Among the non-judicial espionage operations uncovered by the investigation, the surveillance of the then governor of Ceará, Camilo Santana of the Workers' Party and current Minister of Education in the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, stands out; the President of the Chamber of Deputies Rodrigo Maia, a wayward Bolsonaro deputy and the prosecutor investigating the murder of Marielle Franco (a left-wing city councilor from Rio), in addition to attacks on electronic ballot boxes and interference in legal proceedings against members of the Bolsonaro clan.
The researchers point out that one of the tools used was a software called First Mile from the Israeli company Cognite, which they used to infect their victims' cell phones without a court order, reports O Globo. The purchase of this spying program and its use have been the subject of media coverage and political debate in Brazil for years, but this is the first time that the investigation has officially reached a former general director of the ABIN agency, who is also close to Bolsonaro.
The most notorious recent phone spying case in Brazil involved then-President Dilma Rousseff, whose communications were monitored by the US National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, during Barack Obama's presidency. The presidential hearing was part of the massive espionage uncovered by analyst Edward Snowden. This scandal caused the Brazilian president to cancel a state visit to Washington and forego the purchase of some American fighter jets.
In addition to Ramagen, ten other people are also the subject of the operation that started this Thursday, including seven federal police officers who have already been suspended from their duties. The various registered locations include the parliamentarian's official office in the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia and his residence.
According to the Portal agency, the former head of the secret service is not in Brasilia and has not made any statements since the police opened the investigation against him. Brazil is immersed in summer vacation in the south and Congress is on recess. According to the Brazilian press, police confiscated four PCs, six cell phones and 20 memory sticks.
But the country is already preparing for local elections in October, in which Ramagen will emerge as Bolsonaro's candidate for mayor of Rio de Janeiro, the second city. That same weekend, the former intelligence chief was scheduled to meet with former President Bolsonaro, who spends his summers nearby to campaign together.
The former president also made no statements in the first hours, but his political circle assured that the allegations against Ramagen were part of a “persecution” orchestrated by Judge Alexandre de Moraes, one of the eleven members of the Supreme Court and its head There have been other trials against elements of Bolsonarism. One of Moraes' investigations is into the coup attempt a year ago, and among those officially named is Bolsonaro, suspected of inciting the violent attack on the presidency, Congress and the seat of the Supreme Court.
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