Government members expressed behind the scenes irritation with the fact that the president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo, did not point out the responsibility of his predecessor, , in the Banco Master scandal, during testimony to the Organized Crime CPI this Wednesday.
Galípolo’s visit to the commission was discussed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with assistants. The assessment in the conversation was that it would be worth Galípolo to respond to the CPI’s invitation to testify if he were to talk about Campos Neto.
Planalto and PT have propagated that the Master scandal is the result of the lack of action by the head of the monetary authority appointed to the position by former president Jair Bolsonaro.
But when asked this Wednesday about his predecessor’s responsibility, Galípolo replied:
“There is no audit or investigation process, nothing that finds any guilt on the part of former president Roberto Campos Neto.”
At another time, the president of the CPI, PT member Fabiano Contarato (ES), insisted on whether Galípolo had any knowledge that Campos Neto had acted to avoid the liquidation or intervention in Master throughout 2024.
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“The investigation that was carried out found nothing in this regard”, he replied.
Also this Wednesday, in an interview with ICL Notícias, Lula once again blamed Galípolo’s predecessor for the Banco Master scandal.
“Do you know, which snake laid the egg? Mr. Roberto Campos.”
Galípolo’s stance of not endorsing the government’s accusations against Campos Neto adds to discontent in Planalto with the president of the Central Bank due to the institution’s delay in starting to reduce the interest rate.
Lula, despite avoiding publicly criticizing the head of the monetary authority he appointed to the position at the end of 2024, has expressed disappointment with his chosen one behind the scenes. In June 2024, before announcing that he would nominate him to command the BC, the president even referred to Galípolo as a “golden boy”.
There was an expectation that after Galípolo assumed the presidency of the Central Bank in January 2025, the reduction of the Selic would begin. But this only happened in March this year, when the Monetary Policy Committee cut the rate by 0.25 percentage points to 14.75%.
