Two Federal Police detectives who led the Banco Master investigation lost their command posts two days after filing reports on Supreme Court justices’ ties to banker Daniel Vorcaro. Their superiors also ordered the reports rewritten. The police call it a routine restructuring.
BRASILIA — Brazil’s Federal Police removed the two detectives who coordinated the Banco Master investigation from their command posts two days after they filed reports on the relationship between Supreme Court justices and the bank’s owner, Daniel Vorcaro, according to Folha de S.Paulo and Gazeta do Povo. The leadership of the force also ordered the reports to be rewritten.
The detectives are Daniel Mostardeiro Cola and Wedson Cajé Lopes, both from the force’s anti-corruption and money laundering division. On Nov. 3 they filed three police intelligence reports, prepared at the request of Chief Justice Edson Fachin, that mention Justices Alexandre de Moraes, Dias Toffoli and Kassio Nunes Marques, with references also to André Mendonça, Luiz Fux and Gilmar Mendes. On Nov. 4, Denis Cali, the head of the Federal Police’s anti-corruption directorate, signed an order to redo them. On Nov. 5, the two were told they were out, according to Agenda do Poder. All the justices named deny any wrongdoing.
Who is who
Vorcaro, the former owner of the liquidated Banco Master, is in jail. Police have already identified more than 300 messages between him and Moraes, as this newspaper reported. The Federal Police are led by Director General Andrei Rodrigues, appointed by President Lula. The force answers to the Ministry of Justice.
Why it matters
The order to redo the reports set a new rule: they must be strictly informative, presenting data without value judgments or interpretation, citing the judiciary’s organic law and the court’s internal rules. In practice, the investigators who connected the dots were told to stop connecting them, and then they were moved. Officially, the Federal Police say the change is part of an administrative restructuring that began in October. Internally, according to the reports, the explanation was a “breach of trust” because leadership was not told in advance what the documents contained. Lopes keeps one of the 12 inquiries in the case.
For an American reader, the question is simple: what would happen in Washington if the FBI removed the agents who had just sent reports on Supreme Court justices to the chief justice, and ordered the reports softened? The Lula regime’s police did exactly that, with no public explanation beyond a reorganization. Gazeta do Povo reports that the change is expected to delay the case, as information is transferred and teams are rebuilt.
The record
Confirmed by multiple outlets: the names of the two detectives, the Nov. 3 filing, the Nov. 4 order to redo the reports, the Nov. 5 removal and the official explanation. Reported: the internal “breach of trust” reason and the content of the reports, which remain under seal. Denied: any wrongdoing by the justices named.
This comes days after the first reports linking three justices to Vorcaro became public. The pattern is clear enough: when an investigation reaches the top of the Supreme Court, it is the investigators who lose their jobs. The next test is whether the rewritten reports say the same thing as the originals.
The Watch Post Daily will continue to follow this story. Sources: Folha de S.Paulo, Gazeta do Povo, Agenda do Poder, Federal Police.
Featured image: Polícia Federal prende agentes da Polícia Legislativa do Senado by Senado Federal, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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