BC employees under suspicion had meetings with the PF regarding the Master investigation, says director

Aquino's statements were made to the PF in May, when he testified as a witness in an investigation dealing with investigations against Belline Santana, former head of Banking Supervision at the BC, and Paulo Sérgio Neves de Souza, former director of Inspection. The two, according to the investigation, would have acted in favor of Vorcaro's interests within the BC, passing on information about the bank's supervision.

The PF even carried out searches and seizures at addresses in Paulo Sérgio and Belline in March of this year.

The defense of both employees states that they did not adopt measures to favor the former banker.

In his statement, Ailton states that he participated in meetings with PF delegates about the ongoing investigations into Master and that, on one occasion, the meeting was recorded on the Central Bank's public agenda, which generated interest from Vorcaro and the press in knowing what was being discussed.

This meeting, recorded in the diary, took place on October 8 last year, just over a month before the BC decreed Master's liquidation and Vorcaro was arrested for the first time.

After that, the remaining meetings took place privately.

“Servants Belline Santana and Paulo Sérgio participated in several of these meetings with the Federal Police,” Aquino told the PF.

"The meetings dealt with potential illicit acts identified at Banco Master, comprising two main fronts: the first relating to the assignment of credit portfolios to BRB, and the second relating to Bravo [da] Reag funds."

When contacted and questioned whether, at the time of these meetings, investigators already suspected irregularities related to Paulo Sérgio and Belline and whether the agency had taken measures to prevent the leakage of confidential information to Master, the Federal Police did not comment.

Paulo Sérgio's lawyer, Odel Antun, states that he did not participate in "several meetings" with the PF, but that he was "actively involved in the identification, investigation and formalization of the two main irregularities pointed out at Banco Master, that is, both with regard to the assignments of credit portfolios to BRB and the issue of Fundo Bravo and Reag".

He says that, in the case of BRB, Paulo Sérgio and the team carried out fieldwork and collected supporting documentation to describe all suspected irregularities to the Federal Public Ministry, on July 15.

At the time, he states, there was a meeting with the PF delegate responsible for the case and with a manager responsible for supervising Banco Master.

The defense states that the other meeting, which dealt with Fundo Bravo and the risk of operations without economic justification, took place after October, with the Public Ministry and the PF, "to inform about the new findings and that the facts would result in communications of new irregularities".

"In both cases, Paulo Sérgio himself prepared the representation forwarded to the Federal Public Ministry, in such a way that phases 1 and 2 of Operation Compliance Zero resulted from prompt actions by him and his team", says the defense.

The lawyer says that Paulo Sérgio's participation "in no way impeded the continuation of the investigations." "On the contrary, it was Paulo Sérgio himself who defended the communication of signs of fraudulent management, and there was no protection of Daniel Vorcaro's interests", he says.

Belline's defense, represented by lawyer Leonardo Palazzi, states that Aquino's testimony "confirms the strictly functional and institutional role he carried out at the Central Bank, including in the dialogue with the Federal Police regarding potential illicit acts involving the Master Bank".

Belline says it has adopted the necessary measures to deal with investigations related to Banco Master.

"This objective context cannot be replaced by conclusions regarding the supposed influence exercised by Daniel Vorcaro, which never occurred in relation to Santana", states the lawyer, in a note.

In his statement to the PF, Aquino narrated that there was a hostile environment at the Central Bank in the months leading up to Master's liquidation and Vorcaro's arrest. The director states that there were intense leaks of sensitive information.

Therefore, he said he kept the decision to liquidate Vorcaro's financial institution in November last year confidential.

Paulo Sérgio served as director of Supervision at the BC between 2017 and 2023. Months later, he assumed the position of deputy head of the Department of Banking Supervision, led by Belline from 2019 to 2026.

Career employees of the institution, with almost three decades at the company, enjoyed the trust of their colleagues. As Folha showed, the evidence of the duo's involvement in the Master case generated an atmosphere of dejection and perplexity among employees.

According to investigations, BC employees are suspected of having acted as informal consultants for Vorcaro in exchange for undue advantages. The evolution of the former managers' assets was the trigger for the opening of an internal investigation at BC.

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