Protógenes Queiroz
| Protógenes Queiroz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | May 20, 1959 |
| Police career | |
| Current status | Suspended indefinitely |
| Department | Federal Police of Brazil |
| Allegiance | Brazil |
| Other work | Politician |
Protógenes Pinheiro Queiroz (born May 20, 1959) was a Brazilian Federal Police officer who has led investigations in some of the country's most high-profile corruption cases. Queiroz was responsible for investigations leading to imprisonment of the former mayor of São Paulo, Paulo Maluf. He was a key figure in two investigations, in 2005 and 2007, into corruption scandals in Brazilian football (the latter against Boris Berezovsky's MSI group for money laundering in Corinthians). From 2004 to July 2008 Quieroz led Operation Satiagraha, a major operation into misuse of public funds, money laundering and corruption, leading to the arrest of the banker Daniel Dantas and several other prominent figures, including Celso Pitta, another former mayor of São Paulo.
Protógenes Queiroz is a controversial and famous figure in Brazil. While he has been frequently lauded as a lone fighter for truth and justice in a corrupt system — Brazil's Eliot Ness — he has also been criticised and investigated for going beyond his authority in the way he conducts his investigations.
On April 13, 2009, Protogenes Queiroz was suspended indefinitely from the Federal Police for engaging in political activity. Queiroz is now officially affiliated to the PCdoB (Communist Party of Brazil), and has declared that he will run for congress in 2010.
For nearly four years (2004–2008), Queiroz led Operation Satiagraha, an investigation of the Brazilian Federal police into misuse of public funds, corruption and money laundering. Satiagraha resulted in the arrest on July 8, 2008 of several bankers, bank directors and investors. The most high-profile figure investigated in Satiagraha, the banker Daniel Dantas, was convicted to ten years' imprisonment in December 2008.
In an interview the Procurator of the Republic, Rodrigo de Grandis, stated that the purpose of Satiagraha was to investigate two distinct criminal operations, one of which was led by Dantas. Both of these operations focused on crimes in the financial market. Queiroz said that the objective of Satiagraha was to "combat a pernicious situation for our country. We were shocked by the scale of the two organisations, the level of intimidation and their power to corrupt."
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