Councilor rips up photo of Toffoli in the gallery, posts and archives after ‘low engagement’

Councilor Lucas Pavanato (PL-SP) stated this Thursday, 12th, that the minister of the Federal Supreme Court, Dias Toffoli, is “a shame for all Brazilians” and that the situation involving the minister’s report on the Banco Master scandal “is almost nauseating”.

The parliamentarian published a video on social media in which he appears tearing up a photo of Toffoli in the Chamber’s gallery. The post, however, was archived shortly after. The councilor’s office claimed “low engagement” as justification for removing the content.

On Monday, the 9th, the Federal Police requested the suspicion of minister Dias Toffoli after finding mention of the rapporteur’s name on banker Daniel Vorcaro’s cell phone.

Due to the new finding from examinations on Vorcaro’s devices, the PF management chose to deliver a report to the president of the Federal Supreme Court, Edson Fachin, who asked Toffoli to speak out.

“The Brazilian has contempt for Mr. Dias Toffoli. All this is exposed and what happens? That judge who should be suspected demands the evidence for himself”, said the councilor at the 100th Ordinary Session of the São Paulo City Council.

Toffoli issued a decision this Thursday ordering the Federal Police to forward to the Court the contents of all cell phones seized in the Banco Master investigation.

In addition to mentions of the minister’s name in messages found on the banker’s cell phone, the website UOL reported that there are conversations between Vorcaro himself and Toffoli. The information was confirmed to Estadão by people with access to the investigation.

“A minister who has suspicious relationships, which the Federal Police itself states should be a suspect in the case, he simply ignores the facts and continues acting”, declared Pavanato.

Bolsonaro supporter, Lucas Pavanato received 161,386 votes and was the most voted councilor in the country in the 2024 elections.

“But whoever gets rich with public money, whoever gets rich through dealing, has no vocation to be on our Supreme Court,” he accused.

Under pressure, the minister confirmed that he is a partner and received dividends from a company that did business with an investment fund linked to banker Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Master. Toffoli, however, said that he does not have a “friendly relationship” with Vorcaro and stated that he “never received any amount” from the banker.

As shown by Estadão, Toffoli is an anonymous partner in the company Maridt, which is run by his two brothers and had a stake in two resorts in the Tayayá chain. The company sold its stake in the accommodation business in Paraná to investment funds whose shareholder was pastor Fabiano Zettel, Vorcaro’s brother-in-law and financial operator.

“It’s past time for us to hunt down Dias Toffoli, it’s past time to give a message. The impeachment of Dias Toffoli is the least that can be expected in order to reestablish the respect of the Federal Supreme Court.”

The president of the Court, Edson Fachin, interrupted this Thursday’s plenary session earlier to meet with all the Court’s ministers because of the new allegations involving Toffoli.

Estadão found that a copy of the Federal Police report citing Toffoli in the Master case would be distributed to all ministers, as well as the minister’s defense after delivery of the PF report.

‘I want to know about Viviane de Moraes’

The PL councilor also questioned the relationship between lawyer Viviane Barci de Moraes and Banco Master’s defense in court. Viviane is the wife of the minister of the Federal Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes.

The contract signed between Banco Master and the Barci de Moraes Associados office provided for action to defend the interests of the institution and Daniel Vorcaro with the Central Bank, the Federal Revenue Service and the National Congress.

“And we, in the trust, cannot say anything. But I want to know, it’s from Viviane Moraes. Where are her payments? Because a 10-year-old child can know that it is immoral for a minister’s wife to receive money, while he acts in favor of that bank.”

According to the contract, signed in January last year, the office would receive R$3.6 million per month over three years. If fully complied with, the total value could reach R$129 million by the beginning of 2027.

Moraes alleged, in a note released in December, that his wife’s office ‘never acted in the BRB-Master acquisition operation before the Central Bank’.