Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), would have called the president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo, six times in the same day, to inquire about the progress of the analysis of the purchase operation of Banco Master by BRB (Banco de Brasília), according to an article in the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.
In a new statement released on Tuesday evening (23), Moraes said that “there were no telephone calls between the two, for this or for any other matter.”
The magistrate confirmed the holding of two meetings with Galípolo, on August 14 and September 30. According to him, the meetings were intended to address the effects of the application of the Magnitsky Act, which provides for financial sanctions and was used by the United States government against Moraes and his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes.
“In none of the meetings was any issue discussed or pressure exerted regarding the acquisition of BRB by Banco Master,” he said.
The minister also said that his wife’s law firm, which has a contract with Master, “never participated in the acquisition operation of BRB-Master before the Central Bank.”
Master was liquidated by the BC on November 18 and its controller, Daniel Vorcaro, was arrested by the federal police on suspicion of fraud worth 12 billion reais. A few days later, he was released by Judge Solange Salgado da Silva, of the TRF-1 (Regional Federal Court of the 1st Region), who ordered monitoring by electronic ankle bracelet.
According to the O Estado de S. Paulo report, the series of phone calls were part of at least five conversations between Moraes and Galípolo about the Master.
The information was obtained by the newspaper from people in the legal and financial world who heard the information from one of the people involved.
Reports that Moraes contacted the president of the BC to talk about the Master have increased questions about the magistrate. The news was initially published by columnist Malu Gaspar, of the newspaper O Globo, citing four contacts between the minister and the head of the monetary authority to deal with this matter.
Opposition politicians demanded explanations from the minister. They highlighted the information, revealed previously, that the office of the magistrate’s wife has a contract worth 3.6 million reais per month to defend the interests of the master.
According to another article in the newspaper O Globo, the hiring of Barci de Moraes Sociedade de Advogados would be valid for 36 months, starting at the beginning of 2024. As a result, the agreement would bring, at the beginning of 2027, 129 million reais to the company, if Master had not been liquidated by the Central Bank. The office includes the minister’s wife and the couple’s two children.
In an initial note, Moraes said he received Galípolo for meetings “due to the application of the Magnitsky Act.” Initially, the minister did not mention the date of the meeting. It was the target of financial sanctions from the US government on July 30 and the sanction was lifted on December 12. According to O Globo, the meeting with Galípolo took place in July.
In the first statement, the minister did not comment directly on reports that he had requested approval of the agreement between Master and BRB.
In the note published Tuesday evening, Moraes indicated that the first meeting took place on August 14, after the first application of the Magnitsky Act. The second meeting, said the minister, took place on September 30, after the application of the same law to Viviane, on September 22.
“In none of the meetings was any subject discussed or pressure exerted regarding the acquisition of BRB by Banco Master. He also clarified that he has never been to the Central Bank and that there was no telephone call between them, for this or any other subject,” he said.
Previously, the BC had also published a note in which it stated that it had “held meetings with the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes, to discuss the effects of the application of the Magnitsky law.” The institution does not detail the dates or names of the members who were with the magistrate nor does it comment on reports of pressure to release the sale of the Master.
Communications of this type, in which the BC reports on meetings between its members and external members, are unusual in the functioning of the institution. Although the BC admits to having held meetings with Moraes, these meetings are not included in the public agenda of the body’s president, Gabriel Galípolo, nor in the commitments of the eight directors who make up the monetary authority. Contacted, the BC did not comment on the absence of minutes of the meetings.
Moraes’ name appears only once on Galípolo’s agenda, on September 29, when the president of BC participated in the inauguration of ministers Edson Fachin and Alexandre de Moraes as president and vice-president of the STF and the CNJ (National Council of Justice), in Brasilia. But there is no indication that they met on this occasion.
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