Businessman José Seripieri Filho, who gave a ride on his plane to president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on a trip to Egypt, signed a whistleblower agreement with the Federal Prosecution Service in 2020 and confessed to the electoral crime of slush fund in a case involving the PSDB senator José Serra (São Paulo).
Seripieri Filho, commonly known as Júnior, was imprisoned for three days in July 2020 as a result of Operation Paralelo 23, which investigated payments to José Serra's campaign to the Senate in 2014. He became a defendant accused of corruption, money laundering, and slush funds in the Electoral Court in São Paulo. The senator is also currently facing legal action.
The investigation took place within the scope of a set of investigations nicknamed "Lava Jato Eleitoral" ( "Electoral Car wash"), as it involves the unfolding of denounces sent to this branch of the Judiciary.
At the end of 2020, Federal Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso approved a collaboration agreement between Seripieri and the Office of the Prosecutor General. The commitment provided for the payment of R$ 200 million by the entrepreneur as reimbursement to the public coffers. The terms of the agreement, as well as details of the depositions, remain confidential to this day.
Seripieri was the founder of Qualicorp and owns the Health operator QSaúde. He has not held a position in the management of Qualicorp since 2019.
Translated by Cassy Dias