The statements made by the former banker Daniel Vorcaro and the former president of the BRB (Banco de Brasília), Paulo Henrique Costa, to the federal police showed discrepancies that led to the start of a clash on Tuesday evening (30), but the director of surveillance of the Central Bank, Ailton de Aquino, was exempted from a possible confrontation of the versions, according to people close to the investigations.
Vorcaro and Costa were in person at the STF (Federal Supreme Court) to testify in the Master affair, the investigation of which is under the responsibility of Minister Dias Toffoli. After investigation, Vorcaro and Costa were questioned for more than two hours each.
Also summoned to give explanations, the director of surveillance of the Central Bank, Ailton de Aquino, began to testify in the early evening, after waiting more than five hours in court. After the testimony, he was excused from a possible confrontation.
Financial institutions had been reacting to a potential confrontation involving Aquino. In a joint note, entities such as Febraban (banking federation) and ABBC (banking association) defended the BC and stated that “the presence of a technical and, above all, independent regulator from an institutional and operational point of view, is one of the most important pillars in building a strong and resilient financial system.”
As shown LeafDias Toffoli’s apparent withdrawal from promoting a showdown between Vorcaro, Costa and Aquino could not be confirmed.
Despite the information provided on Monday (29) by the minister’s advisers that it would be up to the Federal Police to assess whether it would be necessary to confront the three depositors, there has been no change in the procedures, according to people familiar with the matter interviewed by the report.
The minister’s strategy of transferring responsibility for the clash to the PF, but following the initial scenario before the hearing of delegate Janaína Palazzo, raises more suspicions of an attempt to convey the message that the clash occurred because of the information presented during the testimony.
Cross-examination is used to resolve inconsistencies in testimony with divergent statements in a criminal case – between defendants, victims and witnesses, for example. Comparing reports helps the judge look for the most reliable version before making a decision.
Toffoli had scheduled the confrontation before individual statements were taken by the police and objective contradictions were reported between the characters in the case.
The process is confidential. Since the beginning of December, the procedures and measures linked to the investigation into Master and Vorcaro have had to go through the examination of Toffoli, by decision of the magistrate himself.
The investigation into the attempted sale of Master showed that, even before the transaction was formalized, the bank had falsified and sold approximately R$12.2 billion in loan portfolios attributed to the BRB – R$6.7 billion in fake contracts and R$5.5 billion in bonuses, the supposed value of the portfolio, plus a bonus.
The Master scandal led to the liquidation of the bank on November 18 and the arrest of Daniel Vorcaro, its controller, for 12 days. He remains monitored by an electronic bracelet on his ankle.
The urgency of determining a hearing with a representative of the Central Bank has raised other fears regarding the investigations under Toffoli’s responsibility.
Just before Christmas, two court officials were at the Master, in São Paulo, looking for the institution’s liquidator, Eduardo Félix Bianchini, fueling hopes that he would be summoned to provide clarification in the coming days.
A retired employee of the Central Bank and chosen by the regulator to handle the liquidation of the Vorcaro bank, Bianchini spent Christmas with his family outside São Paulo and was not in the office when the agents visited.
Toffoli’s office denied, through his advice, that it was his responsibility to send court officials to summon the Master’s liquidator.
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