A key body in the investigations against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), the Internal Revenue Service may have at its command a sympathizer of the family of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
After a vacancy of six months, the government is considering appointing tax auditor João José Tafner to the position. He participated in Bolsonarista campaign acts in 2018 and even posed for photos next to the then candidate for deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP) wearing a shirt from the Brazilian team and a sticker from another PSL candidate.
Among members of the Revenue heard by the leaf, Tafner is seen as a government enthusiast and his choice for the post is taken for granted. According to reports, he has no previous experience with Internal Affairs and, therefore, his profile is considered unusual to head the body.
Tafner has a degree in systems analysis and legal sciences and has been an Internal Revenue auditor since 2002, where he held positions such as Head of the Security and Customs Control Division. In 2021, he was CFO at Ceagesp (Companhia de Entrepostos e Armazéns Gerais de São Paulo), a federal company linked to the Ministry of Economy.
He can be chosen for the post just over a month after a change in command of the IRS. In December, Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) fired the then special secretary José Barroso Tostes Neto.
The Economy Ministry’s version is that Tostes left office due to the end of the tax reform discussion cycle, but government officials say to the leaf that the change in charge of the Revenue took place due to pressure from the president’s family.
According to reports, Tostes’ replacement at the helm of the Revenue, Julio Cesar Vieira Gomes, was chosen by Guedes after a single interview — without any other candidates being heard.
The Bolsonaro family has been trying at least since the middle of last year to get a name of preference in the Internal Revenue Service.
As published by leaf, Flávio sought to unlock one of his defensive theses to nullify the origin of the investigation of the “cracked” case.
Bolsonaro’s son wanted the appointment of retired tax auditor Dagoberto da Silva Lemos, a name that faced resistance even in the technical staff of the Federal Revenue. Tostes Neto nominated auditor Guilherme Bibiani for the position, but the appointment was never carried out.
In the face of resistance, negotiations began to be made for a third name to be chosen. The post has been vacant since July – when the three-year term of the former magistrate, José Pereira de Barros Neto, ended.
In a note, Flávio Bolsonaro said that he did not indicate and has no influence or interest in this appointment.
“I don’t even know him or have seen him in my life. The Justice has already ruled on the illegalities committed against me and there is nothing more to say on the matter. I hope that whoever is appointed to the position fulfills their duties within the law and as efficiently as possible.”
A leaf could not speak to Eduardo Bolsonaro or Tafner.
In 2018, Tafner appears in photos of Bolsonar campaign events alongside Eduardo, Marcos Pontes, now Minister of Science and Technology, and then candidate for federal deputy for PSL Marcus Dantas.
On Dantas’s profile on social media, the photo of him next to Tafner and Eduardo has the following text: “Thank you very much Jaguariúna-SP for the fraternal welcome. Wonderful event in support of our future president Bolsonaro. Brazil above all, God above all.”
Tafner also appears next to Flávio in a photo with several people at the inauguration event of the board of Sindifisco (Union of Revenue auditors), in 2019.
The Corregedoria is a key body for Flávio because he wants to support the thesis that his fiscal data were accessed irregularly. It is her duty to investigate — and, eventually, disclose — the illegalities pointed out by Flávio’s lawyers allegedly committed by tax auditors.
Since 2020, the senator’s lawyers allege that his client had his tax data illegally accessed to provide information to the report by Coaf, a financial intelligence body that pointed out the suspicious movements of his former advisor Fabrício Queiroz.
The Coaf document is the pivot of the investigation of the “cracks” case, which led to the complaint against Flávio on charges of embezzlement, criminal organization and money laundering at the end of last year.
Currently, the prosecution is weakened due to the annulment of the breaches of banking and tax secrecy of the investigation by the STJ (Superior Court of Justice).
The Coaf report, however, can be used to reopen the investigation. Its eventual annulment for the illegalities pointed out would prevent the proceeding of the case, evaluates the senator’s defense.
In 2020, Flávio’s lawyers called the Receita, Serpro (state company that holds the tax data) and even Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) to identify the alleged irregularities.
The Internal Revenue Service carried out a special investigation to identify access to data on Flávio and those around the president.
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