Richarlison’s battle with presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro doesn’t look like cooling down anytime soon, with a lawyer now responding to the Tottenham striker.
For those that don’t know, the Tottenham player posted a video on social media this week. He presented documents that he claims prove the legality of his purchase of a luxury property in Angra dos Reis.
That property is currently the subject of a dispute involving Senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro.
According to the Tottenham man, the property was seized “by force” through legal procedures. That came after the athlete refused to negotiate.
Folha de S. Paulo explain that the land is owned by the federal government. But Richarlison had purchased the right to occupy the property. Shortly after he took possession, other parties expressed interest in buying it according to the player’s account.
“Since I didn’t want to sell, these guys just took it by force through the courts,” the athlete stated.
Richarlison claims that lawyer Willer Tomaz and Bolsonaro then filed a request directly with the SPU (Secretariat for Federal Heritage) to have the property’s status regularized in the senator’s favor.
Lawyer hits back
The lawyer, though, maintains that he legally acquired the rights to the land and paid R$ 5 million to settle the property’s outstanding tax liabilities. He labelled the previous occupants as “invaders”.
He has now challenged the Tottenham forward to produce documentation proving his legal connection to the property.
“Deputy Alencar [Alencar da Silveira Júnior, a politician from Minas Gerais and former state deputy] and I purchased the area in October 2020,” Richarlison stated this week.
“We invested approximately R$ 10 million. That covered payments to the previous occupants (R$ 4.66 million), renovations, and security measures to prevent unauthorised entry.
“And we compensated all the former residents through notarised agreements, and the Rio de Janeiro judicial system validated our possession. We did everything in accordance with the law.”
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Ongoing since 2020
The newspaper explains that the dispute about the estate has been ongoing since 2020. Tomaz now argues that the documents Richarlison has shared “confirm that the forward made payments to occupants, rather than to the rightful owner.”
In fact, according to him “even the figures differ. In the video, he mentions R$ 4.66 million, yet Sport 70—a company linked to him—declared in the case files that it had disbursed R$ 2.6 million. On the other hand, there is a registered deed, a certificate from the SPU [Superintendency of Federal Heritage], and favourable rulings at every judicial level—including from the Superior Court of Justice (STJ)—that are now final and unappealable.”
He has also insisted that Bolsonaro has nothing to do with the situation.
“By persisting with baseless accusations, Richarlison has already become a defendant in a case in Brasília,” he added.
“The transaction was also the subject of a police investigation. That was closed due to a complete lack of evidence of any crime.
“As for Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, he was never a party to the dispute. He merely appeared as a witness called by former left-wing deputy Alencar da Silveira Júnior, who happens to be a business partner of the accuser himself.”
