Ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) are divided regarding the investigation into the leak of their tax data and that of their relatives. On the one hand, a wing of magistrates supports the action and sees the irregular access to Federal Revenue information as yet another attempt to harm the Court’s image. Another party understands that it is necessary to be careful so that the Tax Authorities and other control bodies have their actions questioned without there being concrete evidence that any illegal acts have occurred.
Four Federal Revenue employees were the target of a Federal Police operation this Tuesday (17) on suspicion of having irregularly accessed confidential tax data belonging to Supreme Court authorities. The investigation was opened by order of Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
Globo found that there was irregular access to the tax information of the minister’s wife, Viviane Barci, and the couple’s son. The STF was warned that Guiomar Mendes, ex-wife of minister Gilmar Mendes, could also be among the targets.
Opportunity with security!
Backdrop
For one wing of the Court, the episode has as its backdrop a search to discredit magistrates, with the dissemination of decontextualized information. Although they emphasize that it is necessary to wait for the investigations to know the real motivation for the leaks, these magistrates claim to have been bothered by the leaks and classified the action as a sweep. For them, there needs to be punishment for those responsible.
In a reserved capacity, a magistrate evaluates the episode as an attempt to recreate the political climate of Lava-Jato, with the discredit of the Supreme Court and political institutions as a whole. Irregular access was identified at a time when the STF is discussing the adoption of a Code of Conduct, which has generated internal disagreements.
A decision given in 2019 by Moraes was cited behind the scenes by those who follow the Court’s day-to-day activities as a precedent that contrasts with the determination to investigate leaks about ministers’ data. At the time, the minister granted an injunction to prevent the Federal Audit Court (TCU) from identifying Federal Revenue officials responsible for accessing tax data on politically exposed people. When contacted, the minister did not comment.
Continues after advertising
Em 2019
The case is not the first that opposes Revenue auditors and STF ministers. In 2019, the Tax Authority even asked the Ministry of Justice to open an investigation to investigate the inclusion of relatives of magistrates among the targets of an analysis to identify tax irregularities. Among the targets at the time were Roberta Rangel, Guiomar Mendes, minister Gilmar Mendes, and the minister of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) Isabel Galotti.
Today’s investigation was determined by Minister Alexandre de Moraes. In January of this year, he ordered the opening of a procedure to determine whether there was a leak of confidential data from Court ministers and their families at the Federal Revenue Service and the Financial Activities Control Council (Coaf).
Banco Master
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.
Banco Master was liquidated after the progress of investigations carried out by the Federal Police, which, in November last year, launched Operation Compliance Zero. The investigation resulted in the arrest of the institution’s controller, Daniel Vorcaro, who was being investigated on suspicion of financial fraud related to the issuance and sale of irregular credit securities. He was then released.
