Flávio Bolsonaro went on safari in South Africa with people under investigation for INSS fraud
Magazine Piauí reveals that Flávio Bolsonaro travelled with senator Weverton Rocha and lawyer Willer Tomaz, both under investigation in Operation No Discount.
South Africa safari brings Flávio closer to those under investigation in INSS scheme
Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), prospective presidential candidate, went on a safari in South Africa in March 2025 alongside senator Weverton Rocha (PDT-MA), lawyer Willer Tomaz and businessman Carlos Alberto de Sá. According to a report by operamundi.uol.com.br, the information comes from magazine Piauí, which retrieved, on Saturday (19/07), a photograph of the trip sent to a WhatsApp group on 10 March 2025.
The image reached the Federal Police (PF) after Rocha's mobile phone was seized as part of Operation No Discount, which investigates fraud against retirees and pensioners of the National Social Security Institute (INSS). The scandal became public about a month after the trip.
Carlos Alberto de Sá and the Covid CPI
The report identifies in the photograph, released on Friday by O Globo, Carlos Alberto de Sá, partner at VTCLog and founder of Grupo Voetur. In 2021, the Covid CPI requested the businessman's indictment for active corruption and administrative impropriety.
The final report of the CPI pointed to evidence of overbilling of R$ 17 million in a VTCLog contract with the Ministry of Health, during the Bolsonaro government, for storage and distribution of supplies, including vaccines. The document also recorded transfers of R$ 4.7 million in cash, carried out since 2018 by a company employee — part of these amounts would have been used to pay personal expenses of then director of Logistics of the Ministry of Health, Roberto Ferreira Dias.
The CPI also mentioned that VTCLog won a Ministry of Health tender with significant discounts, but subsequently requested contract amendments, a practice that could be classified as "spreadsheet manipulation". Despite the requests for indictment, the suspicions did not result in criminal liability for Sá.
Willer Tomaz and the undeclared apartment
Tomaz was also under the scrutiny of the Covid CPI, which even discussed breaking his banking secrecy to investigate alleged participation in negotiations involving the Covaxin vaccine. The measure did not proceed.
In the week before Piauí's publication, the magazine had revealed that Flávio used an apartment belonging to the lawyer in Vila Nova Conceição, south zone of São Paulo, during the electoral campaign. The property was not declared as a donation to the campaign and previously belonged to Fabiano Zettel, brother-in-law of Daniel Vorcardo, identified by the PF as one of the main operators of the scheme.
Willer maintains that he is not under investigation for fraud against the social security system. According to a report by the PF, which carried out searches and seizures at his office, he acted as a "financial, patrimonial and logistical hub" in the scheme, through "companies, properties, aircraft, pilots, employees, financial operators and political intermediaries". Willer's companies would have sent more than R$ 11 million to Rocha's wife's bank account.
Rocha at the centre of the investigation
Senator Weverton Rocha is identified by the PF as the "leadership and mainstay" of the activities of the group under investigation in the INSS fraud. His name was also included in an investigation by the Federal Public Ministry into transfers from the secret budget to the Health area in Maranhão. As he has privileged jurisdiction, the case is being handled under secrecy at the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
Source: Google News BR — Crime