This Tuesday (17), the Federal Police carried out an operation to investigate suspected leaks of information from the Federal Revenue of ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and their relatives. In total, four search and seizure warrants were executed in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. The action was authorized by Moraes following a request presented by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR).
The investigation had been determined in January by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, after a warning from the Tax Authorities about irregular access to tax data of lawyer Viviane Barci de Moraes, his wife, by a civil servant who works in Rio.
An audit conducted by the Federal Revenue Service detected multiple irregular accesses to internal systems that store tax data and reported the evidence to the Supreme Court. According to a note released by the STF, these diverse and multiple illegal accesses “present typical initial adherence to the offense provided for in article 325 of the Penal Code (breach of functional secrecy)”, continues the Court’s note.
Opportunity with security!
A breach of functional confidentiality occurs when the employee reveals or facilitates the disclosure of confidential data of which he or she is aware due to his or her position.
Irregular access
In addition to Moraes’ wife, there was irregular access to the tax information of the couple’s son’s wife. In addition to Viviane’s data, there would have been irregular access to the tax information of the couple’s son, who is also a lawyer. The STF was also warned that lawyer Guiomar Mendes, ex-wife of minister Gilmar Mendes, could also be among the targets.
The investigation identified the actions of four Federal Revenue officers, according to the Court’s statement. The people being investigated are Luiz Antônio Martins Nunes, Luciano Pery Santos Nascimento, Ruth Machado dos Santos and Ricardo Mansano de Moraes, who work at Revenue stations in the states that were the target of the operation, with salaries ranging from R$11,128.16 to R$38,261.86, according to the Transparency Portal. EXTRA was unable to contact the servers.
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The STF ordered home and personal search and seizure against them, in addition to the removal of banking, tax and telematic secrecy, home confinement at night and on weekends using an electronic ankle monitor, immediate removal from public service, prohibition of entry into the premises of the Federal Data Processing Service (Serpro) and the Federal Revenue, prohibition of access to their computerized systems and bases, and cancellation of passports with the prohibition of leaving the country.
Contract
The opening of the investigation took place amid the developments in a report that mentions Banco Master’s contract with the office of Moraes’ wife, Viviane Barci. In December, Malu Gaspar’s column revealed that, over three years, the contract would total R$131.3 million.
Previously, columnist Lauro Jardim had reported that the service provision contract had been seized in a Federal Police (PF) operation.
Also in December, Malu Gaspar reported that Moraes sought out the president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo, at least four times to put pressure on Banco Master.
At least three of the contacts were by telephone, but at least once Moraes met in person with Galípolo to talk about the problems at Daniel Vorcaro’s bank.
Another episode
This is not the first recent episode in which the STF and the IRS disagree on the use of tax data involving authorities. In 2019, Moraes himself ordered the suspension of a series of tax investigations by the Federal Revenue that affected Court ministers and other authorities, citing “indications of misuse of purpose” in the direction of the investigations, and temporarily removed two civil servants on suspicion of undue breach of confidentiality.
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At the time, the Supreme Court understood that there was not enough evidence of irregularity on the part of taxpayers to justify the fiscal profligacy promoted by the body.
The 2019 decision was handed down in the context of a broader investigation, opened by the then president of the STF, minister Dias Toffoli, to investigate fake news and threats against the Court, and included the order to halt investigations that allegedly accessed data without due evidence of irregularity.
