Brasilia - New investigations by the Federal Police against Daniel Vorcaro and his associates have brought an unprecedented revelation: the banker paid high-ranking officials of the Central Bank to obtain information and documents about regulatory actions by the monetary authority targeting Banco Master .
According to the Federal Police, the monthly payments were made to two Central Bank employees who had already been dismissed earlier this year by an administrative decision of the institution itself: Paulo Sérgio Neves de Souza, former director of supervision at the Central Bank; and Belline Santana, former head of the banking supervision department at the Central Bank.
According to the investigations, the two had "access to strategic and confidential information" and held positions directly related to the oversight of financial institutions and the application of administrative sanctions.
Minister André Mendonça, the new rapporteur for the Master Case at the Supreme Federal Court (STF), who authorized the third phase of Operation "Compliance Zero," also ordered that Neves de Souza and Santana be completely removed from public service at the Central Bank - they are even prohibited from entering the agency's headquarters building in Brasília.
"Investigations also indicate that Daniel Bueno Vorcaro maintained direct and frequent communication with Central Bank of Brazil officials responsible for banking supervision, discussing issues related to the regulatory situation of the financial institution and forwarding documents and drafts to the supervisory authority for prior analysis," says an excerpt from Mendonça's decision.
In addition to the payments to the two Central Bank employees, which were made through a consulting firm used to justify these transactions and conceal the direct relationship with Vorcaro, according to the Federal Police, the investigations show WhatsApp messages that reveal Vorcaro's relationship with them.
In one of the messages, Paulo Sérgio even goes so far as to give Vorcaro suggestions on how to behave in a meeting with the president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo .
“Even though he is a Central Bank employee, Paulo Sérgio becomes a kind of employee/consultant for Vorcaro on matters of exclusively private interest to the latter,” says Mendonça’s decision, arguing that there are numerous transcribed messages in the case files between the two to that effect.
Vorcaro, upon learning that Neves de Souza would be traveling to amusement parks in Orlando, United States [Disney and Universal], even says in one of the messages that he would need to "arrange a [tourist] guide for these people" and then contacts someone to provide such a service.
In another exchange of messages, Paulo Sérgio Neves de Souza sends Vorcaro the official document appointing the employee to the position of deputy head of banking supervision at the Central Bank. To which the banker replied: "Congratulations."
Mendonça's decision also includes WhatsApp messages sent by Fabiano Zettel to Vorcaro regarding a payment to a Central Bank employee, Belline Santana, who was the head of the Central Bank's banking supervision department.
Zettel asks Vorcaro: “You have to pay the first installment to Belline today, okay?”. The banker authorizes it. And in another text, Zettel returns to Vorcaro: “Belline is charging. Will you pay?”. Vorcaro then replies: “Of course”.
Contacted by NeoFeed , the Central Bank sent the following statement:
Regarding the launch of the 3rd Phase of Operation Compliance Zero, the Central Bank declares its conviction that the work carried out by the Federal Police represents an essential step towards the full clarification of the facts.
"The Central Bank reports that it has identified evidence of two permanent employees receiving undue advantages during an internal review of the inspection and liquidation processes of Banco Master. Immediately, the Central Bank provisionally removed the aforementioned employees from their positions and from accessing the institution's premises and systems, initiated disciplinary proceedings to investigate the facts, and reported the evidence of criminal activity to the Federal Police."
"The Central Bank clarifies that, observing due process and the right to a full defense, the identified infractions will receive the appropriate sanctioning response, in accordance with the law."
