The Federal Police pointed out that Daniel Vorcaro financed trips by the former governor of Rio de Janeiro Cláudio Castro (PL), including abroad, precisely during the period in which Rioprevidência was making billion-dollar contributions to Banco Master. The investigation was carried out by CNN political analyst Matheus Teixeira, CNN 360°.
The “high coincidence” highlighted by the investigation
According to Matheus, the minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) André Mendonça described the pattern identified as a “high coincidence”.
According to what appears in the Federal Police representation received by the minister, the trips — some of them international — and between Vorcaro and Castro always took place at the same time as Rioprevidência carried out.
The investigation points out that Rioprevidência and the government of Rio de Janeiro were warned numerous times about the risks of these operations, but they ignored the warnings and continued to invest resources in the bank.
For the reporting authority, the logical and chronological chain of facts points to one conclusion: the payment of a type of bribe or advantages to Castro to make the contributions viable.
According to the investigation, Castro would have promoted payments to Banco Master.
Such movements went against what the technical areas recommended, which suggested investments in more solid institutions capable of protecting the resources managed by the fund.
Castro in the crosshairs of two major investigations
Matheus Teixeira highlighted that this is the second decision against Cláudio Castro in an interval of just 11 days.
The first, by order of STF minister Alexandre de Moraes, is related to Refit — an oil refinery in Rio de Janeiro —, whose protagonist is not Vorcaro, but Ricardo Magro.
Magro has been in the sights of the STF since the Carbono Oculto operation, which investigated money laundering in fintechs and financial institutions, in addition to tax evasion attributed to Refit.
With this, Castro becomes the target of the two main investigations underway in the country.
Refit’s involves more than R$30 billion in tax evasion, while Banco Master’s loss already exceeds R$50 billion — and, according to Teixeira, there is still no clarity on the full extent of the losses, such is the extent of the fraud and the web of relationships involving the institution.
CNN Brasil tries to contact the defense of those involved.
