One of the targets of the Federal Police operation this Tuesday (23) on the WhatsApp group of businessmen who exchanged scammer messages, José Koury, owner of Barra World Shopping, released a statement this Wednesday (24) to talk about the case. He said that his speeches were taken out of context, that he defends freedom of expression and that generates employment in the country. He also stated that he will support whoever is elected in October.
Koury, who had not yet publicly positioned himself on the matter, claims that the comments he made in the group are not related to Barra World.
“We find it strange that all the articles mention companies owned by individuals in a prominent way”, wrote the businessman in a note.
According to the report by the Metrópoles portal, which revealed the content of the conversations exchanged in the WhatsApp group, Koury wrote that he preferred a coup to the PT’s return.
“I understand that Minister Alexandre de Moraes took the decision that seemed correct to him, after receiving complaints and becoming aware of the articles published in the press,” he wrote.
In the note released this Wednesday, Koury also says that the group brings together people with different political orientations.
“The prints shown by the media were used completely outside the context in which they were posted. The aforementioned WhatsApp group has more than 200 participants, from different political ideologies, in a wide, plural and democratic space for debate. comment on various subjects, issue opinions, diverge and discuss without the slightest concern of being misinterpreted”, says the note.
He also denies that any articulation for a coup d’état took place.
“To think about organizing a ‘conspiracy’ within a WhatsApp group with about 200 people with left, right and even center political tendencies, where most of them don’t even know each other, seems to me a very fanciful theory. , I only personally know two or three people from the group”, says the note.
Finally, the businessman said that he is democratic and that he defends freedom of expression.
“I am 64 years old, I have worked at least 12 hours a day since I was 16 years old, and I have always been a defender of democracy and free freedom of expression and thought. well, who have a family, pay taxes and fight hard to make Brazil better every day. Whoever is elected, from whatever party, will have our full support”, wrote the businessman.
Joana Cunha with Paulo Ricardo Martins and Diego Felix
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