Federal police delegates ask Brazil’s prosecutor general to recuse himself from Daniel Vorcaro inquiry

Brazil’s National Association of Federal Police Delegates has asked Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet to recuse himself from an investigation that includes conversations between Gonet and banker Daniel Vorcaro.

The association issued a statement expressing “indignation” over the opening of a procedure to examine the Federal Police’s conduct in preparing a report about the conversations. Estadão reported that the material came from evidence seized in Operation Compliance Zero.

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The report identified Gonet by name and exposed his proximity to Vorcaro, the owner of Banco Master. Hours after the document became public, Gonet, who heads Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry, requested that the case be archived. The Superior Council of the Federal Public Ministry then opened a procedure to investigate the prosecutor general’s conduct.

The delegates’ association said the report had been produced under an order from the Supreme Federal Court justice who was then handling the case. “The document in question was produced at the direction of the justice who was then the rapporteur in the case before the Supreme Federal Court. The delegates and employees who took part in it carried out a court order, within the strict limits set by the competent court, without discretion to decide whether to comply,” the statement said.

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The document in question was produced at the direction of the justice who was then the rapporteur in the case before the Supreme Federal Court. The delegates and employees who took part in it carried out a court order, within the strict limits set by the competent court, without discretion to decide whether to comply.

The group argued that if the Prosecutor General’s Office considers the report unlawful, the proper route is to challenge it before the Supreme Federal Court. It said directing the challenge at the officials who executed the order shifts a dispute onto people who are not responsible for it.

The association also said criminal-procedure rules on judicial disqualification and suspicion apply to prosecutors. “Regardless of any judgment about intentions, which the ADPF does not make, the objective effect of the measure is intimidating for investigators,” it said. It called on Gonet to recuse himself and refrain from acting in proceedings related to facts in which he is mentioned, whether as legal supervisor or as the official responsible for external oversight. The delegates further asked for the procedure he opened to be archived and for the facts disclosed by Operation Compliance Zero to be investigated fully, without selectivity toward the authorities involved.

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Regardless of any judgment about intentions, which the ADPF does not make, the objective effect of the measure is intimidating for investigators.