Brazil’s Federal Police say the president of Conafer, a confederation representing family farmers and rural entrepreneurs, tried to blackmail federal lawmaker Eros Biondini after the congressman supported a parliamentary inquiry into alleged improper deductions from pensioners’ benefits.
According to Folha de S.Paulo, which cited a Federal Police report, investigators allege that Carlos Lopes, Conafer’s president, threatened to disclose that Biondini’s daughter, Chiara Biondini, had received payments from the organization. The alleged pressure campaign followed Biondini’s support for a joint congressional inquiry into the INSS, Brazil’s national social security agency, and his request for an investigation into the execution of a 5 million reais budget amendment he had directed to Instituto Terra e Trabalho, or ITT, an entity linked by police to Conafer.
The case is part of Operação Sem Desconto, a Federal Police investigation into unauthorized deductions from INSS benefits. In Brazil, the INSS administers pensions and other social security payments, making the case politically sensitive because it involves retirees and low-income beneficiaries. The first police inquiry related to Conafer led to 48 investigative indictments. Lopes and ITT president Vinícius Ramos were listed among those indicted; Eros and Chiara Biondini were not.
Police say Chiara Biondini was hired by Conafer in 2021, when she was 19, and received at least six payments of 10,000 reais. She later became a state deputy in Minas Gerais for the Liberal Party, known as PL. In conversations obtained by investigators, Ramos allegedly told Lopes that Chiara had been paid “without doing anything.” The Federal Police report said she received “fictitious salaries,” which investigators say gave the alleged criminal organization leverage to use the episode as political blackmail.
According to the report cited by Folha, Lopes and Ramos allegedly asked another Minas Gerais lawmaker, Euclydes Pettersen of the Republicanos party, to convey their anger to Biondini and threaten to expose the payments to his daughter. Police said Lopes and Ramos used payment receipts as “an instrument of political blackmail” against Biondini.
Investigators also cited a conversation in which Lopes allegedly told Ramos not to leak the payments because it could bring accusations of bribe payments against Conafer. Police interpreted the exchange as an indication that Lopes, described in the report as a leader of the alleged scheme, understood the payments could be treated as corrupt acts.
Biondini and Chiara said in a joint statement that they cooperated with the Federal Police investigation and that the report did not identify any irregular act or illegal conduct by them. In testimony, they said Chiara had been hired after a selection process. Chiara told investigators she repeatedly asked for work assignments but was told to wait, which, according to the report, caused her discomfort and dissatisfaction.
Biondini also told police he directed amendments to ITT on Pettersen’s recommendation and did not know of the institute’s connection to Conafer. The Federal Police report, however, said the ITT was closely linked to Conafer.
Pettersen was indicted on suspicion of passive corruption, money laundering and participation in a criminal organization. Police allege he benefited from at least 14.7 million reais in bribes routed through lottery outlets and shell companies. Pettersen denied involvement in the facts under investigation and said his defense would challenge the police version.
Conafer said it respects the work of the Federal Police but stressed that an investigative indictment is not a criminal charge filed by prosecutors and does not amount to a trial or conviction. Folha said it contacted ITT email addresses registered in federal systems and the lawyer for the institute’s president but received no response.
This article is based on single-source reporting by Folha de S.Paulo and on statements attributed by Folha to the Federal Police report and the parties involved.