Supervisor of investigations that may involve parliamentarians and other authorities with jurisdiction in the (Supreme Federal Court), including members of the court, the minister has fragmented investigations to avoid leaks within the Federal Police itself and by lawyers from different parties.
The minister’s idea is that the investigations have coordinators, but the information is compartmentalized between the investigators.
The procedures are carried out by different members of the PF, who collect information, testimonies, carry out measures and launch operations.
Mendonça has told interlocutors that, with this, his intention is to preserve the investigations and the PF itself, in addition to organizing the investigation procedures.
The strategy is attributed to his experience in command of sectors that dealt with sensitive information. Before becoming a minister of the STF, Mendonça commanded the Ministry of Justice and the AGU (Attorney General of the Union) of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.
The minister has said that, when he was AGU, he created a laboratory for analyzing confidential data on defendants and also coordinated teams for leniency agreements (a type of whistleblowing by companies). In both cases, Mendonça did not have access to this confidential information.
He has also had help since last October from a Federal Police delegate on loan to his office, who assists in criminal cases and gives suggestions on the work.
The division of investigations into several procedures also prevents the defense of someone being investigated from having access to information about other targets of the investigations.
Mendonça also prohibited the PF leadership and other people hierarchically superior to the delegates in the Banco Master case from having access to the investigations. In the rapporteur’s view, this way there is less risk of interference in investigations. This was one of the first measures when taking on the role of investigation rapporteur in February.
The minister has also held at least three meetings with teams responsible for the Master to present and define the dynamics he prefers to give to the procedures and monitor the progress of the case.
The magistrate has been, since last August, rapporteur on the case of suspected fraud in . With the departure of Dias Toffoli from reporting on the Master case, he was selected as the new conductor of the process.
Immediately upon taking over the bank’s investigations, Mendonça established a position on how he would deal with the matter, giving greater independence to the case’s investigators and restricting other people’s access to information.
At the time, in a decision, the minister stated that only those who were directly involved in the investigation should have access to it, a measure “related to the principles of preserving secrecy and functionality”.
“It is emphasized that only police authorities and agents directly involved in the analysis and conduct of reciprocally shared procedures must be aware of the information accessed, which imposes on them the duty of professional secrecy, including in relation to hierarchical superiors and other public authorities”, he said.
There are currently four Master inquiries. The two main investigations were opened by delegates from different states.
In Brasília, investigations are being carried out in the first phase of Operation Compliance Zero, which arrested banker Daniel Vorcaro in November. The investigation deals with the attempted purchase of Master by BRB (Banco de Brasília).
Another investigation was opened by teams from São Paulo and is related to the second phase of Compliance Zero, launched in January, which deals with suspected fraud carried out through investment funds, including businesspeople.
In addition to having different delegates, the investigation in São Paulo began with the PF and the one in Brasília was carried out almost entirely by the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) and then forwarded to the police to comply with the requested measures.
The PF management appointed a delegate to coordinate the two teams, but the São Paulo judge did not decide on the case and nothing was done jointly.
In addition to these four investigations, there are developments in the case. One of them is the case in Rio de Janeiro, which investigates alleged crimes against the financial system involving resources from Rioprevidência, the retirement and pension fund for state employees.
The body is being investigated for the acquisition of financial bills from the bank — fixed income securities that do not have guarantees from the FGC (Credit Guarantee Fund).
In the case of INSS, the investigation is even more fragmented. This is because there are more focuses, linked to the associations that worked in the scheme.
The role of Mendonça’s office in the investigations is not always welcomed by lawyers who defend the Master and INSS cases. One of the constant complaints is that, often, related requests are left without consideration by the minister or still retained in the office, and are not sent to the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) for comment.
There have been leaks of confidential information in some cases, which has led lawyers to ask the minister for investigations. This is the case of the defense of businesswoman Roberta Luchsinger, investigated in the INSS case.
She is a friend of Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha, son of President Lula (PT). Her defense asked Mendonça, on several occasions, to investigate the leak to the press of information about transactions and payments made by the businesswoman.
Mendonça has already opened at least one investigation into suspected leaks, at the request of Vorcaro’s defense. He ordered the opening of an investigation to find out how messages from the former bank owner’s cell phone were leaked and shared with the INSS CPI.
