Deputy Adriana Belém, arrested on Tuesday (10) and suspected of being linked to the “jogo do bicho”, lied to prosecutors who went to her apartment and found almost R$ 2 million in cash hidden inside suitcases and in a police safe.
A member of the task force of the Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime (Gaeco) of the Rio de Janeiro Public Ministry (MPRJ), prosecutor Roberta Laplace was at the Belém property and reported, at a press conference, that the delegate claimed to have only R$ 60 thousand at home.
“We found around R$60,000 in Dr. Adriana’s suite in her safe. She mentioned that it was the only money she had at home. She even pondered with us that the money was to pay the family’s bills, which she did not she would be able to honor the payment of the bills if that money was seized. (…) And she categorically stated that it was the only money she had in the house.”
After the delegate’s suite, prosecutors also searched the bedroom of Belém’s son. There, they found two suitcases with hundreds of thousands of reais in them. Recently, the police officer bought and had a car valued at R$200,000 for her son armored.
“It was a heavy suitcase. They [Belém and her son] said they couldn’t open it. It was a suitcase with a code. We mechanically opened it with a knife and found many bags, with many wads of money. Then we found a smaller suitcase, with more or less R$ 600 thousand.”
Then, he would begin the activity that was perhaps the most laborious for the MP: spending hours counting the millionaire amount found in the apartment.
“We took a long time to arrive [at the press conference] because we were counting money, literally, for hours on end. One million, seven hundred and sixty-five thousand and three hundred reais. There were lots and lots of money. (…) We were since six in the morning at Dr. Adriana Belém’s house.”
In a note, Adriana Belém’s defense said that she “does not see the need in prison and analyzes the possibility of filing a habeas corpus, since the MP requested the arrest even before the count of values was finalized, prematurely and without even giving her a chance to explain “.
Operation Caligula
Prey, Belém was the target of Operation Caligula this Tuesday. For the MP, the delegate has involvement with people who exploited a gambling network.
Among the controllers of the scheme are bookmaker Rogério de Andrade and the defendant in the death of councilor Marielle Franco, police officer Ronnie Lessa.
In the decision authorizing the arrest, Judge Bruno Monteiro Ruliere states that the delegate was committed to a criminal organization. “Ré shows an exacerbated degree of commitment to the criminal organization”, he says.
The delegate surrendered the position of the holder of the 16th DP (Barra da Tijuca) in January 2020, after the arrest of two agents who worked with her were detained in Operation Untouchables II.
They were cited as having involvement with militiamen from Rio das Pedras. One of them was Jorge Luiz, who would have been with her at the meeting with Ronnie Lessa.
Money seized at the house of delegate Adriana Belém came out in a supermarket cart — Photo: Reproduction
Friend of players and artists
Also in 2020, Adriana was a candidate for councilor and had 3,500 votes.
The “pop delegate” campaign drew attention, at the time, for having a large cast of players and celebrities among its supporters: Adriano Imperador, Edmundo, Deco, Djalminha, Amoroso, Dudu Nobre, Xande de Pilares, Mc G15 and David Brazil.
Adriana was appointed in August 2021 to a position in the Municipal Secretariat of Sports and Leisure of Rio de Janeiro. According to the transparency portal, her salary is R$8,345.14.
According to the prefecture, she will be exonerated this Tuesday (10).
According to the Civil Police, both delegates targeted by the operation – Belém and Marcos Cipriano – currently have no positions in the corporation. They are far away and crowded into other organs.
As civil servants are assigned to other segments of public power, they continue to be paid by the originating agency, but the onus of payment is on the requesting agency.
The Civil Police Internal Affairs said that it will request access to the investigations to proceed with the necessary administrative processes.
MP operation targets bookmaker scheme Rogério de Andrade and Ronnie Lessa, defendants in Marielle’s death
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings