RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian federal police carried out search and seizure operations Thursday targeting a prominent senator and personal friend of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as investigators dig deeper into a wide-ranging corruption and fraud case that has already swept up multiple politicians ahead of October’s national elections.
Authorities are scrutinizing suspicious financial transactions involving Sen. Jaques Wagner, who serves as the leader of Lula’s Workers’ Party in the Senate. The inquiry is connected to the now-defunct Banco Master and its disgraced former chief executive, Daniel Vorcaro.
Wagner marks the first high-profile ally of President Lula to be drawn into the expanding scandal, which has already caught up with presidential hopeful Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, among others. The controversy is anticipated to be a defining issue in the approaching elections.
Without identifying specific suspects, police announced they were carrying out 18 search and seizure warrants across the states of Bahia and São Paulo, as well as the Federal District, in connection with alleged crimes that could include passive corruption, active corruption, and money laundering.
Court documents signed by Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça on Wednesday — and obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday — named the suspects and authorized the searches to proceed.
According to those court documents, investigators uncovered indications that the senator may have received improper financial benefits, among them the purchase of a high-end apartment in Salvador valued at roughly 2.45 million reais, or about $470,000.
The documents also reveal that investigators are looking into whether Wagner leveraged his congressional position to advance matters favorable to Banco Master, particularly relating to payroll lending and deposit insurance regulations.
During Thursday’s operation, police seized around $50,000 in cash in Brasilia. Brazilian media reported that the money was found at a location or locations connected to Wagner.
When asked about the seized funds during an interview with Brazilian broadcaster Band on Thursday, Wagner maintained he had nothing to conceal and flatly denied ever receiving money from anyone connected to Banco Master.
The senator also pushed back against any meaningful connection to Vorcaro, the former Banco Master head who is currently behind bars. “My relationship with Daniel Vorcaro is practically nonexistent… I met Daniel only twice,” Wagner stated.
Later Thursday, Wagner’s press team issued a statement denying that the senator had ever acted on Banco Master’s behalf, asserting that the confiscated cash was obtained through legitimate means and that the Salvador apartment was never part of the senator’s personal assets.
Brazil’s Central Bank moved to shut down Banco Master — which had assets exceeding $16 billion — back in November.
Vorcaro, who sits at the heart of the investigation, was taken into custody in March and has since been attempting to negotiate a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Brazil’s federal police have estimated the total scope of the bank’s fraudulent activity at approximately 12 billion reais, equivalent to around $2.3 billion. Both the federal police and the Supreme Court continue to investigate the case.
