Lula urges full Master probe, warns of damage to Supreme Court
President Lula; "Those responsible must pay"
Ricardo Stuckert/Divulgação
President Lula called for a sweeping investigation of everyone implicated in the Banco Master scandal, warning that Brazil’s Supreme Court risks losing public trust after a tumultuous session exposed deep divisions among its justices.
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Lula said Chief Justice Edson Fachin now has the information needed to establish “who did what” after secrecy was lifted from proceedings related to the case, and said anyone found responsible should be punished.
“We have reached a decisive moment,” Lula told Record TV network. “The Supreme Court now has all the information. No one can escape judgment.”
“Secrecy has been lifted, and Fachin has everything he needs,” Lula said. “Whoever did something wrong must be punished and brought to justice. We cannot have people watching the Supreme Court lose credibility in society.”
Lula also questioned why Justices Dias Toffoli and Kassio Nunes Marques had stepped aside from Tuesday’s proceedings. “Why didn’t Toffoli vote? Why didn’t Kassio vote? Who took money and participated in this scheme?” he said.
Lula said former Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro had been at the center of “a criminal scheme that involved a lot of people.” “Let’s lay Brazil bare and investigate,” he said.
The president also criticized justices whose relatives work as lawyers and were mentioned in conversations with Vorcaro. “People in the judiciary cannot use their positions to get rich,” Lula said, without naming any justices.
Lula again called for changes to the judiciary, including fixed terms for Supreme Court justices and changes to the way they are selected. He also said the criteria for appointing judges to other courts should be revised.
Behind the scenes, Lula’s campaign is trying to adjust its communications strategy but believes this year’s election agenda has been “hijacked” by the Supreme Court debate.
After Lula stagnated in opinion polls and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro moved numerically ahead of him in a Quaest survey, the president’s campaign stepped up comparisons between his administration and that of Flávio’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula’s team now believes, however, that the strategy may have less impact than expected because of the intense public attention surrounding the court confrontation.
Lula’s allies believe the outcome of proceedings that could authorize an investigation into Justice Alexandre de Moraes, as well as recent actions by fellow Justice André Mendonça, could influence the election. Some fear the political impact may be more damaging to Lula.
Under pressure from supporters to take a tougher approach with less than 20 days until the election, the campaign has intensified materials comparing the Lula and Bolsonaro administrations on issues including hunger, poverty and public health. It has also begun using more graphic imagery.
Accompanied by the slogan “If the father did this, imagine the son,” posts by Lula’s Workers’ Party show photographs of makeshift cemeteries for Covid-19 victims, hungry people searching trucks for discarded bones and deforested areas, all recorded between 2019 and 2022.
Lula’s campaign strategists say the goal is to ask voters whether they “want to go back to that,” contrasting the Bolsonaro years with favorable indicators from Lula’s current administration. Valor has learned that the approach is part of campaign strategist Raul Rabelo’s effort to attack opponents without resorting to mudslinging.
With news coverage, social media, and part of the public focused on developments at the Supreme Court, however, Lula’s allies worry that those efforts could prove “futile” or “too late.”
The more pessimistic among them argue that institutional uncertainty tends to hurt an incumbent even when the president and his government are not directly involved, because voters may associate the officeholder with the broader instability. They also fear the turmoil could further weaken public confidence in the country’s institutions.
