STF Justice Mendonça Maintains Secrecy Over Bank Records in Master Case

Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça is keeping the bank and tax records of more than 30 individuals and legal entities under seal. These records are part of the Master case investigation and include companies belonging to former banker Daniel Vorcaro. The material is described as more robust than the Coaf financial intelligence reports that Justice Alexandre de Moraes previously requested access to.

The records impact several entities, including Super Empreendimentos, which is under investigation for allegedly channeling payments from Vorcaro to public agents and a private militia. Another target is Moriah Asset, an investment fund linked to Fabiano Zettel. Zettel is the brother in law of Vorcaro and a former pastor of the Lagoinha Baptist Church. Reports indicate that under Zettel's management, the church saw atypical movements of 57 million reais between December 2014 and December 2015, despite an annual revenue of 950,000 reais.

Justice Moraes informed STF President Edson Fachin that Mendonça had not made the Coaf material public, claiming it contains essential elements for a hearing scheduled for Tuesday. The PGR also argued that the documents should be public to allow the court to understand the full scope of the matter. This tension follows a crisis within the court after Mendonça exposed messages Vorcaro allegedly sent to Moraes and suggested an investigation into his colleague.

President Fachin has taken over the reporting of the Moraes Vorcaro case and ordered the lifting of secrecy for the Master case, except where active investigations are ongoing. Fachin also ordered Mendonça to transfer the Master and INSS case files to his office, a move that effectively halts current investigations. Mendonça's office maintains that the specific bank breach records should remain secret because the Federal Police have not yet submitted the final analysis report on the financial movements.