Influential Supreme Court judge of Brazil Alexandre de Moraes came under pressure this Tuesday after the publication of messages sent to him by a banker imprisoned under suspicion of a vast corruption scheme, in the days prior to his detention.
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The revelations come just weeks before the October 4 elections, in which leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), will face off.
Daniel Vorcaro was the owner of Banco Master, which collapsed leaving debts of more than 7 billion dollars to hundreds of thousands of investors, in one of the biggest financial scandals in Brazil‘s history.
Moraes is one of the most powerful figures of the Supreme Federal Court. He led the historic coup trial against Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
A report from the Federal Police accessed by AFP on Tuesday reproduces WhatsApp messages in which the banker asks Moraes for help with the apparent goal of stopping the investigation that ended in his arrest last November.
The messages show Vorcaro asking Moraes, days before his detention, if he should leave the country: “Do you think I have to be out by Monday already?”, he wrote on November 15.
Moraes’ responses are not shown in the police report.
The investigation also reveals that the magistrate personally manipulated the draft of a contract between Banco Master and the law firm of his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, for 130 million reais (about 24 million dollars), which was signed in February 2024.
Barci’s firm admitted that it consulted Moraes, in his capacity as husband of the managing partner, to ensure there were no potential legal impediments to the contract due to his position as magistrate.
AFP asked the supreme court for comments from Moraes but did not receive an immediate response.
Supreme Court judge André Mendonça, in charge of the Banco Master case, requested the Attorney General’s Office to comment on the new revelations within five days.
He also requested the president of the supreme court that the content of the police report be examined in a plenary session, “in a public and transparent manner”.
From both sides
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro said on Tuesday that the revelations are “serious accusations”, and urged Moraes “to give explanations”.
“If confirmed, Minister Alexandre Moraes is not fit to remain on the Supreme Court,” he told reporters at Congress.
The Federal Police is also investigating the financing of “Dark Horse”, a film about Jair Bolsonaro that has not yet been released.
Flávio Bolsonaro acknowledged that he had asked Vorcaro for money to produce the film.
According to revelations from the site Intercept Brasil, the banker had committed to contributing about 24 million dollars, although he apparently transferred only half.
Uncovered last year, the Master scandal has hit leaders from the main political factions in Brazil.
In June, the police began investigating influential pro-government senator Jaques Wagner on suspicions of economic benefits linked to defending the bank’s interests in Congress.
The investigation led to Wagner’s resignation as head of the government bloc in the Senate.
Lula acknowledged having met off the record with Vorcaro in 2024, when the liquidity problems of Master were already known.
The president assured that the investigation would go “to the last consequences”.
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