Brazilian Federal Police investigators say they have identified three separate attempts by businessman Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, commonly called Lulinha, to conclude contracts with the Ministry of Health that never materialized. The alleged deals, which involved the sale of R$ 627 million in cannabis-based medicines, the supply of rapid dengue and other arbovirus diagnostic tests, and productive partnerships through the state-owned Iquego laboratory in Goiás, were described in a Folha de S.Paulo report published on 25 August 2026.
According to the police, Lulinha acted in "economic communion" with lobbyist Roberta Luchsinger, who allegedly sought to benefit the president’s son indirectly through her actions. Investigators claim that Luchsinger paid R$ 217 thousand in credit‑card bills and other expenses to Marco Aurélio Ribeiro, known as Marcola, former chief of staff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in 2024 while she was negotiating the cannabis and test contracts.
The cannabis medicine negotiations began in February 2024 when Luchsinger and Camilo Antunes, known as Careca do INSS, approached then‑executive secretary Swedenberger Barbosa of the Ministry of Health. Police say they presented a plan to regularize cannabis products for sale in Brazil, a matter Barbosa said fell under the competence of the national health surveillance agency, Anvisa. In May 2024, Luchsinger allegedly sent Marcola draft contracts, which he says he did not forward to the ministry. Police quote Luchsinger as telling interlocutors she represented "Fábio" and wanted a 20 % commission on sales.
Two sources consulted by Folha—a private‑sector actor and a government technician—called the plan unfeasible, noting that the Ministry of Health spends only about R$ 5 million per year on cannabis medicines, while states and municipalities bear the bulk of judicial‑ordered expenditures (São Paulo alone spent R$ 25.6 million from January to October 2023). The proposed deal would have required the purchase of 1.2 million bottles from four companies, including Careca’s WorldCann.
The second line of investigation concerns rapid diagnostic tests for dengue and other arboviruses. Police cite Veja magazine in saying that Luchsinger and Careca discussed a contract worth roughly R$ 1 billion through an importer based in Santana de Parnaíba, São Paulo. Market sources told Folha that the figure far exceeds the Ministry of Health’s annual budget for disease‑prevention inputs, which stood at around R$ 700 million in 2026, and that the ministry typically transfers funds to states and municipalities rather than buying tests directly.
The third element involves potential productive partnerships with Iquego, the Goiás state chemical industry. Police say the talks centered on technology‑transfer projects for medicines and nutritional supplements, though no concrete proposals were shown in the documents obtained by Folha. Iquego’s 2025 management report states that at least 25 projects had been submitted in recent years, all of which were rejected by the ministry’s technical staff.
The Ministry of Health told Folha that none of the initiatives "had any follow‑up or repercussion" and that all purchases are conducted through public competitive bidding. Defense lawyers for Marcola, Careca, and Lulinha deny wrongdoing, claiming the leaked documents aim to distort facts and influence the electoral process, and that any payments made were loans already repaid.
A separate transaction reported by Metrópoles shows that WorldCann paid R$ 500 thousand to Manoel Arruda, first substitute for Senator Damares Alves, for consultancy work related to Iquego projects; Arruda said he returned the amount after Operation Sem Desconto investigated pension fraud.
The Federal Police investigation remains ongoing, and no charges have been filed as of the date of the report.