Information from the Federal Police led investigators to check whether there were signs of crimes involving the banker and the national president of the PP
The Federal Police (PF) found banker Daniel Vorcaro’s cell phone dialogues with senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI) and orders from the entrepreneur to payment to a person named “Ciro”cited without the surname.
Wanted, Ciro Nogueira said he knew Vorcarobut stated that he was not close with the businessman and denied having received payments. “Inferring that it refers to me, Senator Ciro Nogueira, is definitely a lie fabricated in an attempt to tarnish my biography,” said the senator (read the full position below). Vorcaro’s defense did not speak out.
Given this information, investigators began to verify whether there is evidence of crimes involving the banker and the parliamentarianwho is national president of the PP.
The information has already been sent to the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) André Mendonça, responsible for decreeing the , fulfilled by the PF on Wednesday (4). This is one of the reasons cited, behind the scenes, to justify that the investigation remains under the jurisdiction of the STF.
There is no still, however, a formal investigation launched against senator Ciro Nogueira Not Master case. One of the people closest to Vorcaro in Brasília is the senator. According to people close to the parliamentarian, Ciro was heard before the governor of the Federal District, Ibaneis Rocha (MDB), approved the offer to purchase Master by BRB.
The group led by Ciro Nogueira, which includes the president of União Brasil, Antônio Rueda, offered an alliance to pave the campaign from the current governor of DF to the Senate this year.
The senator’s conversations with Vorcaro, according to investigators, deal with political issues e amenities e used to arrange personal meetings.
The Federal Police also found messages on Vorcaro’s cell phone in which he referred to the senator as a “great friend of life” e celebrates a legislative initiative by Ciro that benefited the Master.
The date of the message commemorating what he called the “atomic bomb in the financial market”, August 13, 2024, coincides with the amendment to the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) for financial autonomy of the Central Bank, presented by Ciro Nogueira, to increase the amount covered by the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC) from R$250 thousand per CPF to R$1 million.
The proposal was identified by politicians and members of the financial market as one of the first “digital” favors for the Master in Congress.
FGC coverage was one of the Banco Master’s main strategies to leverage investments in their Bank Deposit Certificates (CDBs), as shown by Estadão in August last year.
Furthermore, the PF found mentions of payment to a person named “Ciro” in Vorcaro’s conversations with his brother-in-law, Fabiano Zettel, considered his financial operator.
In May 2024, Zettel sent Vorcaro a list requesting authorization for various payments to be done. “I need you to sort out my priorities. […] 2. Payment to Ciro”, he wrote. The banker, then, authorizes transfers.
The investigation has not yet obtained the bank details to verify what this payment was and whether the recipient was in fact the senator or another friend of Vorcaro with the same name.
The PF also found a mention of the name Ciro in Vorcaro’s dialogue with federal deputy Fausto Pinato (PP-SP). In the conversation, Pinato asks Vorcaro to be a meeting was held between the three. When contacted, the deputy did not respond to contacts.
Senator is the third politician mentioned
Since the launch of the first phase of Operation Compliance Zero, in November, the names of two politicians had already been mentioned in the investigations. Ciro Nogueira, therefore, is the third to be mentioned.
The first, as revealed by Estadão, arose because of the seizure of the document of a real estate transaction between Daniel Vorcaro and the federal deputy João Carlos Bacelar (PL-BA). This transaction, however, did not go ahead, but the document served as justification for the banker’s defense to request the investigation be sent to the Federal Supreme Court. The investigators, however, did not find any evidence of irregularity in the document.
Later, in his testimony to the PF and the STF, Vorcaro stated that he had held conversations and at least one meeting at his home with the governor of the Federal District, Ibaneis Rocha (MDB), on the sale of Banco Master to Banco Regional de Brasília (BRB). The information was revealed by Estadão. The PF suspects that BRB had billion dollar loss because of acquisition of false payroll loan portfolios. At the time, Ibaneis denied having talked about the deal with Vorcaro and said that the person responsible for the matter was the then president of BRB, Paulo Henrique Costa.
Position of Senator Ciro Nogueira
“Associating my name with receiving any type of payment for having my first name mentioned in dialogues, without offering other information, such as surname or position, is an irresponsible, inconsequential and even frivolous act. According to IBGE, there are more than 11 thousand people with the name Ciro in Brazil, including a ‘Ciro’ among the lawyers working in Vorcaro’s defense, according to information from my advisor.
To infer that it refers to me, Senator Ciro Nogueira, is definitely a lie fabricated in an attempt to tarnish my biography. I inform you that, although I know Daniel Vorcaro, just as I know hundreds of businesspeople, he never belonged to my circle of close friends. I am absolutely calm about the results of the Federal Police investigations, since, I reaffirm, I have no involvement whatsoever with the allegations related to the businessman.”
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
