Rui Costa avoids commenting on Toffoli’s departure and says it is “premature” to talk about Master

The Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa (PT), avoided commenting on the departure of the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court, Dias Toffoli, from reporting on the Banco Master case. For the head of the department, it is “premature” to speculate on the topic.

“I don’t want to speculate. I don’t like to pre-judge anyone. I think it’s frivolous to pre-judge people. The Federal Police has freedom, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has freedom to evaluate”, he stated. “When the evidence appears, everyone will have the constitutional and legal right to defend themselves. (…) I think it’s premature. It’s necessary to let things go, I don’t like to prejudge anyone”, he concluded, in conversation with journalists during the opening of Salvador’s Carnival.

Toffoli was removed from the report of the case investigating Banco Master on Thursday night (5). According to the official record, the magistrate himself requested the redistribution of the case to another member of the court, citing “high institutional interests”.

With his departure, the case was assigned to Minister André Mendonça by draw. The minister’s decision occurred on the same day that the members of the STF would meet, at the initiative of the President of the Court, Edson Fachin, to discuss the request for suspicion presented by the Federal Police against Toffoli.

PT’s involvement in the case

Rui Costa was also questioned by journalists about possible links between PT members in Bahia and Augusto Lima, one of the partners involved in the scandal. In response, the head of the Civil House admitted that he did business with the businessman while he was governor of the state, in an operation that involved the sale of the state-owned company Ebal, through a bidding process.

“I sold a supermarket that was bankrupt. You followed. I tried to sell it three times and only managed to sell it the third time. It was a market that accumulated almost R$200 million in annual losses, borne by the people of the lowlands, the outskirts and the favelas”, he explained.

In 2018, while governor of Bahia, Costa also included CredCesta, which exclusively operates credit cards for state employees, in Ebal’s third auction. With CredCesta, the purchase was completed by Lima.

When leaving Banco Master in 2023, Lima took with him the asset included in the auction promoted by Rui Costa’s management. On the subject, the minister argued that the operation was precisely what made the sale viable.

“If it wasn’t (it was included), it wouldn’t have even been sold. If someone paid a whopping R$15 million, it’s because they had the card (CredCesta). If not, they wouldn’t have even paid that,” he said.