An unusual story from the Operation Car Wash Task Force, which investigates corruption, happened right here at Carioca Square. On October 5th, 2011, João Bernardi Filho, who worked at the petroleum equipment supplier Saipem, was walking with R$100 thousand in the middle of the square. The money was a bribe, to be delivered to then director of Petrobras Services, Renato Duque. What Bernardi didn’t expect was that he would be robbed minutes after taking the money out of a Citibank agency, on Assembleia Street. Renato Duque, appointed to the position by ex-minister of the Casa Civil, was going to receive the payment for favoring Saipem in a Petrobras bid for the installation of an undersea gas pipeline.
Raquel Landim, reporter at Folha de São Paulo, tells of the thief’s trajectory in downtown Rio: “It was already past 11:00 in the morning when João Bernardi Filho left the Citibank agency on Assembleia Street, in front of Carioca Square, in downtown Rio. From the door of the agency, it’s possible to see the Petrobras headquarters, the BNDES tower, and the Santo Antonio convent. (…) Bernardi crossed Carioca Square, passing in front of a military police post. He turned right, crossed a gate, climbed some steps and walked toward the entrance of BNDES. He just needed to turn left and cross the overpass above Chile Street to make it to Petrobras. But his path was blocked by Fernando Lourenco Lopes (…) The 27-year-old youth pointed a pistol at the executive. He also threatened a BNDES security guard who tried to react. The thief took Bernardi’s suitcase and ran. The thief looked behind him and squeezed the trigger, but the gun jammed. He ran towards Ave. Rio Branco and almost got away, but was hit by a bullet in his leg, which was shot by military policeman. When the youth fell, R$47 thousand of the stolen money showered Carioca Square. The rest disappeared.
Fernando Lourença was condemned to nine years of prison in 2011, and he escaped after he was moved to a semi-open prison regime in June of 2014. Duque went to jail as the Federal Police continued Operation Car Wash, which revealed a massive corruption scheme at Petrobras. Bernandi was imprisoned in June of 2015, and released in October after signing a plea bargain.