Senator Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), leader of the Lula government in the Senate, . The action is part of the 9th phase of Operation Compliance Zero, which investigates irregularities involving Banco Master.
Born on March 16, 1951 in Rio de Janeiro, he began his political career as a student activistin the late 1960s. Studying Civil Engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, he did not finish the course due to the repression of the military dictatorship.
Moved to Bahia in 1974when he began his career as a maintenance technician at the Camaçari Petrochemical Complex, in the metropolitan region of Salvador. It was there that he turned to union activism, becoming director of the Petrochemical Industry Workers Union (Sindquímica/BA).
The movement the approached national leaders, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). Wagner was one of the founders of the Workers’ Party in 1980. He was elected as a federal deputy in 1990, being re-elected in 1994 and 1998, for the state of Bahia.
After Lula’s re-election in 2002, Wagner becomes Minister of Labor and Employment. He assumed the Special Secretariat of the Economic and Social Development Council of the Presidency of the Republic. In 2005, he was Minister of International Relations.
Government of Bahia
In 2006, he was elected governor of Bahia, also winning the race in 2010. Done represented a defeat for “Carlism”, linked to the conservative forces of Antônio Carlos Magalhães.
After the re-election of President Dilma Rousseff in 2014, Wagner returned to the federal government as Minister of Defense. In October 2015, he was appointed to the Civil House. In 2016, he left the ministry during Dilma’s impeachment process.
In 2018, he was elected as senator for the state of Bahiaa position he still holds today, being appointed as government leader by Lula in the Senate in 2023.
Money seized
During the fulfillment of this Thursday’s mandates, in a hotel room linked to the senator in Brasília. A seizure of the amount in cash exceeds the limit of any amount above US$ 20 thousand stipulated to be collected by minister André Mendonçaof the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and rapporteur of the case at the Supreme Court.
In addition to the parliamentarian, the PF also carries out searches of companies and residences in Augusto Limaowner of Banco Pleno and former partner of Daniel Vorcaro in Bahia. He was responsible for implementing it in Bahia, while Wagner was governor, a credit system for public servants that was later taken to the Master. Credcesta constituted the bank’s main financial asset.
In total, federal police officers carry out 18 search and seizure warrants, issued by the Federal Supreme Court, in the states of Bahia, São Paulo and the Federal District. Various precautionary measures relating to the prison are also being enforced, such as a ban on contact between those being investigated and suspension of passports. The facts investigated may characterize, in theory, the crimes of passive corruption, active corruption and money laundering.
It is worth remembering that Augusto Lima was arrested in the first phase of Compliance Zero, in November last year, but was released by the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1) and was not targeted in other phases. The PF’s suspicion is that he also participated in the fraudulent operation of selling Master to Banco Regional de Brasília (BRB).
A Young Pan tries to contact the senator about the operation. In a note, Augusto Lima’s defense pointed out that “the measures carried out by the Federal Police on this date were unnecessarysince he He has been at the disposal of the authorities for six months to clarify the facts under investigation”.
Furthermore, the position states that “In any case, the measures will help to demonstrate that the facts discovered at this stage of the investigation are strictly lawful” and concludes by saying that “Augusto Lima has always acted within the limits of the law, with transparency, technical responsibility and compliance with standards that govern the financial system and public administration”.
Compliance Zero
Operation Compliance Zero is a PF investigation that seeks to clarify suspected irregularities involving Banco Master and its controller, Daniel Vorcaro. The case came to light at the end of 2025, after indications that the institution had sold financial products without guarantees compatible with the volume raised, offering returns considered atypical to attract investors. In the first stage of the operation, Vorcaro was detainedand investigators pointed out that potential losses associated with the scheme could reach around R$12 billion.
Since then, the investigation has gained new fronts and began to examine possible practices of money laundering, hiding assets, obtaining and improper use of confidential information, in addition to suspected pressure against opponents and possible acts of corruption. Another focus of the investigations involves financial operations between Banco Master and Banco de Brasília (BRB), including billion-dollar contributions and the allocation of resources that would have benefited public agents.
As investigations progressed, the Federal Police expanded the scope of the operation to include people close to the businessman and authorities with alleged links to the facts under investigation.. Among the names mentioned are senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI), who is the target of investigations into possible payments related to the bank’s interestsand the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro (PL), mentioned in investigations into the application of Rioprevidência resources in funds associated with the financial group.
*with information from Estadão Conteúdo
