Parliamentarians call for suspicion of Toffoli due to brother-in-law of Vorcaro

The revelation that banker Daniel Vorcaro’s brother-in-law, Fabiano Zettel, made financial contributions through an investment fund in the resort belonging to the brothers of Federal Supreme Court (STF) minister Dias Toffoli has mobilized deputies and senators who defend the installation of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) to investigate the case in Congress. For these parliamentarians, the magistrate should declare himself impeded or suspected in the face of a blatant conflict of interest.

Senator Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF), who signed a request for Toffoli’s impeachment this week and defends the installation of a CPI, assesses that the minister enjoyed the “credence of doubt” about the existence of a conflict of interest in his actions, but that, now, in view of the facts revealed by the Estadãohe should step aside from the investigation. “There is time for him to declare himself impeded or suspected, including due to the transparency of the investigations”, he stated.

The parliamentarian states that, since the beginning of the processing of the case involving Banco Master in the STF, she has questioned Toffoli’s attitudes, especially when he removed the information collected from Vorcaro’s breach of confidentiality from the purview of the INSS CPI and delegated responsibility for this data to the Senate presidency.

“His decision caused me a lot of surprise at the time, but I thought: ‘I don’t understand his line of investigation. Did he have a line of investigation that he didn’t want many CPMI advisors to have access to these documents so as not to leak anything?’. I thought he was being diligent with the investigation, but now, given what you are revealing, it is inconceivable for him to continue with the investigation”, he stated.

She and six other senators are part of a working group installed by the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) to monitor investigations and investigations related to irregularities attributed to Banco Master.

THE Estadão asked the president of the collegiate, senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL), about how he assesses the proximity of Toffoli’s relatives to people investigated and arrested in the Master case, but he said he had no knowledge of the revelations and that he preferred to wait for the creation of the work plan so as not to disrupt activities with early assessments. The parliamentarian stated that he will soon announce the first steps of the group’s activities.

Another parliamentarian who defends Toffoli’s removal from the case is federal deputy Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ), who is the author of the request for the installation of a CPI to investigate the case. “It is evident that we are facing a case that involves many powerful people in our country, involving several institutions and powers, and we already had a very strong suspicion of Minister Dias Toffoli’s involvement. It is all very suspicious”, he stated, citing the magistrate’s recent decisions in the case.

“He should be stopped and suspected. He couldn’t be doing this,” he said. “Faced with a case in which they (STF ministers) could be penalized, they will try everything to protect themselves. I don’t believe that he will at any point argue his suspicion. We have to work for this”, he stated.

Jordy makes it clear that, once the CPI is installed, the strategy would be to investigate the relatives of the ministers collaterally involved in the case, such as Toffoli, through his brothers, and Alexandre de Moraes, whose wife has a R$129 million contract to defend the Master’s interests in court and in control bodies. A CPI does not have the power to investigate ministers from higher courts.

The parliamentarian outlines the strategy of summoning the family members of these ministers as witnesses because he understands that a possible summons as investigators would guarantee them a habeas corpus from Toffoli in an attempt to shield the public exposure of these figures.

Representative Amom Mandel (Cidadania-AM), who is among the signatories of the CPI proposal, corroborates the assessment that Toffoli should stay away from the case because the situation involving his brothers is “incompatible with the standard of impartiality that the country requires”.

“Even if, legally, someone tries to say ‘ah, but it’s not him directly’, the situation screams conflict of interest: it involves family members, it involves agents linked to the case, and this destroys public trust. Justice cannot just be correct, it has to appear correct too”, he stated.

Mandel argues that the commission should not behave against the STF and its ministers, but rather “require formal clarifications and record the risk of bias in the minutes”.

Even among members of the government base of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) there is an assessment that Toffoli is immersed in a situation of conflict of interests that should lead to his removal from the rapporteur, as defended by deputy Duarte Jr (PSB-MA). “In this case, as there is a connection between the magistrate, through his relatives, with someone who is being investigated by him, it is a clear situation of suspicion, in accordance with the code of civil procedure,” he stated.

“It should be natural for him to declare himself a suspect based on the evidence and evidence, which is clear. That is what the law requires,” he added.