Toffoli Keeps Secret Banco Master Hearing for Dec. 30 as Political Backlash Grows

Overview

• Supreme Court justice Dias Toffoli rejected the prosecutor general’s request to suspend a closed-door confrontation and kept the Dec. 30 session that he set during the judicial recess.
• The proceeding will face Daniel Vorcaro, ex-BRB president Paulo Henrique Costa and Central Bank supervision director Ailton de Aquino Santos over the blocked Master–BRB deal and the bank’s liquidation tied to alleged R$12 billion in fraud.
• The PGR and Central Bank characterize the confrontation as atypical or premature because it was ordered by the justice without a request from investigators and before further evidence was gathered.
• Opposition lawmakers moved to suspend the congressional recess, pressed for hearings and a CPI, and floated impeachment initiatives after reports that the law firm of Viviane Barci de Moraes had a high-value contract with Banco Master; Alexandre de Moraes acknowledges meetings with the BC president but denies any pressure.
• Transparency International highlighted foreign coverage of the case, and retired justice Celso de Mello publicly backed a binding ethics code for the Supreme Court to address growing concerns over conflicts of interest.