The Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, stated that he did not identify the existence of concrete evidence to investigate the suspicions that the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes had pressured the President of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo, about the inspection at Banco Master.
For Gonet, despite the reports published on the topic, there are no “concrete elements or material evidence” about the fact. Moraes’ conversations with the president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo, regarding Banco Master were revealed by the newspaper The Globe and confirmed by Estadão. In just one day, Moraes would have called Galípolo six times to discuss the issue.
Moraes denied the accusation and said that he only dealt with the BC president about the application of financial sanctions by the United States.
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“In a preliminary analysis, it is imperative to highlight the absolute absence of minimum evidentiary support to support the accusation formulated. Both the defendant and the president of the Central Bank denied, in a peremptory and convergent manner, the occurrence of any pressure exerted by the Minister on the interests of Banco Master. Despite the media repercussion of the case, the press vehicles did not present concrete elements or material evidence that corroborates the thesis of intimidation, leaving the narrative in the field of assumptions”, wrote Gonet.
The attorney general also pointed out that he sees no signs of illegality in a R$129 million contract between Master and the law firm of Viviane Barci de Moraes, the minister’s wife. Therefore, Gonet filed a request for investigation into these facts, filed by lawyer Ênio Martins Murad.
The lawyer presented the investigation request to Gonet on December 24th. The filing was signed by Gonet three days later.
It is the first statement by the Attorney General of the Republic on the case. Gonet was appointed to command the Attorney General’s Office with the support of Moraes and maintains a good relationship with the minister, who was the rapporteur of the case for an attempted coup d’état, and with the STF.
In a press release, Moraes said that he spoke with the president of the Central Bank only about the effects of the application of the Magnitsky Law against him, decreed in September by President of the United States Donaldo Trump to block the minister’s access to the financial system.
Gonet also wrote that the secrecy of the source prevents the investigation from advancing into the details of these reports of alleged pressure from the minister.
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“The very nature of the journalistic narrative, moreover, imposes insurmountable limitations on state prosecution. The secrecy of the source, a fundamental guarantee enshrined in the constitutional text, prevents the investigation from advancing on the details of reports provided by anonymous interlocutors, which constitute the only foundation of the news”, says the PGR.
The attorney general also said that Moraes’ wife’s law contract with Banco Master does not constitute signs of irregularities.
“With regard to the aforementioned contract between Doctor Viviane Barci de Moraes and Banco Master, there is no a priori envisage of any illegality that would justify the intervention of this instance. Interference in legal transactions signed between private individuals is outside the scope of action and competence of the Supreme Court, especially when protected by the autonomy intrinsic to the liberal activity of the legal profession”, he wrote.
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