Planalto has done everything possible to distance itself from the scandal. As the minister well remembers, in 2024, when Lula received the banker (off the agenda), the misdeeds were only whispered about.
Vorcaro was taken to Lula by former minister Guido Mantega. Until then, the doctor is a friend of the banker and took him to his boss. Lula took precautions, calling , then director of , and two other witnesses.
Outside the government, Mantega flies around Brasília. Lula tried to place him on a Vale board, but both settled for a place on the Eletrobras board (R$12,600 per month). At Banco Master, Mantega held the role of “strategic consultant”. His salary would have reached R$1 million per month. Mantega’s last public administration was the failed attempt to detonate Ilan Goldfajn’s candidacy for president of the Inter-American Development Bank.
Another Vorcaro strategist was the former STF minister. He joined the banker in August 2023 and his contract yielded R$6.5 million. When Lewandowski’s contract went out into the open, this precious detergent, the palace charanga rushed to clarify: retired minister of the STF, Lewandowski left Vorcaro’s consultancy when taking over the Ministry of Justice. Okay, and who got the contract? Lewandowski’s son and wife, handling tax matters.
Reporter Malu Gaspar, from the newspaper O Globo, estimated the hourly rate charged to Vorcaro. After the Minister of Justice left, his relatives charged R$5 million from Vorcaro. Renowned tax professionals charge around R$2,500 per hour for their time dedicated to the client. His conclusion: “The Master’s contract with the minister’s son would pay the equivalent of 100 man hours per month — or 4.5 hours of work per day, on all working days of the month.”
With strategists of this caliber, Vorcaro had no need for enemies.
Vorcaro’s snooker
No one can predict whether Daniel Vorcaro will cooperate with the investigations, but one thing is certain, the way things are going, the blame will rest with him, and only him.
Error
Last Sunday, dealing with the collapse of the National Bank, in 1995, that “one of its directors, José Luiz de Magalhães Lins (1929-2023), was a living archive of power in Pindorama”.
José Luiz had been the soul of Nacional’s splendor phase, but left the bank in 1972. He had nothing to do with Nacional’s collapse, much less with the malfeasance committed there.
Zé Luiz, as he was known, innovated market practices, lending money to artists with many ideas and little credit, from Grande Otelo to Glauber Rocha. If God is Brazilian, someone will write his biography.
He acted in the shadows and was best known for his quirks.
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