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🇧🇷 Brazil /Elections & Politics

What Could Happen to Moraes After Messages Reveal Contact With Vorcaro

From Folha de S.Paulo · () Portuguese

Translated from Portuguese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Explainer Named sources Under investigation
  • Messages extracted by Brazil’s Federal Police from former Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro’s phone reportedly point to contact with Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, although they do not show whether Moraes replied.
  • Justice André Mendonça wants the case discussed by the full Supreme Court, while the Prosecutor-General’s Office has disputed aspects of the investigation.
  • The dispute could lead to demands for an investigation or impeachment proceedings, but the legal process for prosecuting and judging a Supreme Court justice remains with the relevant constitutional institutions.

Messages extracted by Brazil’s Federal Police from Daniel Vorcaro’s cellphone have placed Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes at the center of a widening dispute over Banco Master.

intervention with public authorities involved in the respective decision-making processes

— André MendonçaMendonça’s assessment of what Vorcaro was seeking in the messages.

The former banker reportedly maintained contact with an interlocutor identified as Moraes. The material does not establish whether the justice answered. Justice André Mendonça said the conversations indicate that Vorcaro knew about the decision ordering his arrest, carried out on Nov. 17, and was seeking “intervention with public authorities involved in the respective decision-making processes.”

According to the Federal Police, Vorcaro contacted Moraes while trying to save Banco Master and follow investigations into suspected fraud. Two days before his arrest, he asked, “Do you think I already have to be out on Monday?” On the eve of the arrest, he asked, “Do you think there is any chance of that happening tomorrow morning?”

Do you think I already have to be out on Monday?

— Daniel VorcaroA message sent two days before his arrest.

Mendonça, who is overseeing the case, wants the full Supreme Court to debate it. Chief Justice Edson Fachin will set a date. Moraes had not commented by Wednesday afternoon, while Bolsonaro-aligned lawmakers and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, a presidential candidate, renewed calls to open impeachment proceedings.

Do you think there is any chance of that happening tomorrow morning?

— Daniel VorcaroA message sent on the eve of his arrest.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office can request investigations and file charges against Supreme Court justices and other officials with special jurisdiction. Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet has sought to annul the Federal Police report and accused Mendonça of using the police to impose an investigation into Moraes. “A judge cannot accuse, much less conduct pretrial investigations,” Gonet said. Supreme Court justices generally face proceedings before the court itself, with criminal cases handled by one of its two five-member panels, though rules concerning justices’ own cases are at issue in this dispute.

A judge cannot accuse, much less conduct pretrial investigations.

— Paulo GonetThe prosecutor-general’s objection to Mendonça’s handling of the investigation.
About this summary

Originally published by Folha de S.Paulo in Portuguese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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