Master Case: Toffoli lifts confidentiality of testimonies from Vorcaro, a director of the Central Bank, and the former president of BRB.
Secrecy was lifted at the request of the Central Bank, but the investigation remains closed.
247 - Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Dias Toffoli has decided to lift the confidentiality of testimonies given to the Federal Police by key figures in the investigation into suspected financial fraud involving Banco Master and Banco de Brasília (BRB). The measure covers the testimonies of banker Daniel Vorcaro, controller of Master, Paulo Henrique Costa, former president of BRB, and Ailton de Aquino, director of Supervision at the Central Bank (BC).
According to Toffoli, the release is restricted exclusively to the testimonies, while the investigation into the Master case remains under judicial secrecy until the Attorney General's Office issues a statement. The decision, according to the Folha de São Paulo, complied with a request from the Central Bank.
Supreme Court decision grants Central Bank's request.
The testimonies were collected at the end of December by Federal Police delegate Janaína Palazzo, prior to the confrontation between the businessmen, ordered by the minister himself as part of the investigation. The objective is to clarify financial operations and negotiations involving Banco Master and BRB.
In his decision, Toffoli emphasized that lifting the confidentiality does not imply the full opening of the investigation, being limited to the statements already given by the investigated parties and authorities heard by the Federal Police.
Central Bank warns of billion-dollar risk.
During his testimony, Ailton de Aquino drew attention to the potential financial impact of the operations involving Banco Master. According to the Director of Supervision at the Central Bank, the reserve of resources that BRB would have to establish to cover potential losses could approach R$ 5 billion.
The assessment by the Central Bank director was presented in the context of an analysis of the risks arising from the relationship between the two financial institutions, a central theme of the investigation conducted by the Federal Police.
Vorcaro's report on the sale of Master to BRB.
Daniel Vorcaro stated to the Federal Police that he had more than one conversation with the governor of the Federal District, Ibaneis Rocha, about the sale of Banco Master to BRB. In his testimony, the banker also admitted that the institution was facing cash flow problems.
According to Vorcaro, Banco Master's business model was based on the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC), a mechanism maintained with resources from the financial system itself to protect depositors in case of institutional failures.
Explanation given to the Federal Police by the former president of BRB.
Paulo Henrique Costa, former president of BRB, declared to investigators that the operation occurred during a process of asset replacement at Banco Master. He stated that he needed to buy time to conduct this transition, in his role of "protecting BRB." The statement was given in response to a question from the Federal Police about a note found in the agenda of the former Director of Control and Risks at BRB, Luana Andrade Ribeiro. According to the Federal Police, the note indicated that Costa had ordered the purchase of portfolios to prevent the collapse of Banco Master.
