The PF (Federal Police) report that was rejected by the corporation's leadership regarding minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), and his relationship with Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Banco Master, cites messages that indicate that he and minister Kassio Nunes Marques had anticipated to the former banker that they would vote in favor of his interests in a court action.
As UOL revealed this Friday (13), in conversations, the following message was identified from the former banker: "Cássio [Kassio Nunes Marques] will vote in favor. And Moraes. It will be tight but we will." The text was sent before the case was judged.
The action in question was ADC (Constitutionality Declaratory Action) 81, which sought to define whether the rules determined by the Mais Médicos program law were in accordance with the Constitution.
Folha contacted the STF and the ministers' offices. Moraes did not respond until the publication of this text.
Kassio said he never voted in favor of Vorcaro nor exchanged messages or received requests from the banker. The magistrate's office highlighted that he never authorized anyone to speak on his behalf, and that he could not be held responsible for third-party conversations.
At the request of the president of the court, Minister Edson Fachin, the PF analyzed messages from Vorcaro's seized cell phone and made reports on the summons to STF ministers and their alleged connections with the Master.
These documents led to a crisis in the PF, after two delegates who worked in coordinating investigations into the Master were removed from leadership roles. The PF leadership ordered that the reports be redone.
Understand the action in which the ministers voted in favor of Vorcaro's interest.
Created in 2013, the Mais Médicos program aimed to encourage the opening of vacancies in cities with few professionals.
The legislation established that, to create new medical courses, the MEC (Ministry of Education) should use a public call. The procedure defined which municipalities had this need, considering infrastructure and location criteria to make up for the lack of professionals in some regions.
In 2018, during the government of Michel Temer (MDB), the creation of new courses was suspended until 2023, as determined by the MEC. Faced with this, private universities began to turn to the courts to continue opening medical courses and expanding vacancies.
In 2022, Anup (Association of Private Universities) called the STF to block the analysis of requests from these institutions. The entity wanted the court to recognize the constitutionality of the Mais Médicos law precisely to prevent private universities from continuing to obtain authorizations in court.
The topic interested Vorcaro. Banco Master was linked to Fundo Calêndula, which participated in the financial restructuring of Ulbra (Universidade Luterana do Brasil), in judicial recovery since 2019. The bank became one of the institution's main creditors and, through the fund, negotiated the acquisition of a unit of a medical school, an operation that did not materialize.
At the time, Ulbra had ongoing requests in court to create new places in the medical course.
In February 2024, the STF resumed analyzing the case in the court's virtual plenary session. In this modality, ministers only cast their votes and there is no discussion in the physical plenary of the court. The debate, however, was interrupted after a request for a review (more time for analysis) from Alexandre de Moraes.
Until then, the trial had five votes to confirm the constitutionality of the section of the Mais Médicos law that provides for a public call for the opening of new courses. However, there was a divergence among the ministers regarding the processes already underway.
The case returned to the court for analysis just over three months after Moraes' request for a review, in May 2024. The magistrate followed the vote of the rapporteur, Gilmar Mendes, who voted for the constitutionality of the public call, but maintained the progress of requests for new courses that had already undergone documentary analysis — as was the case with Ulbra.
"As for requests to open or increase vacancies that have already surpassed the initial phase of accreditation, documentary analysis and on-site validation — that is, cases in which the Ministry of Education has already carried out a first scrutiny on the request, recognizing grounds for following the procedure —, I understand that the same reasons of social interest recommend preserving the efforts and investments spent in favor of the responsible expansion of medical education", declared Moraes in his vote.
Gilmar's vote was victorious and, in addition to Moraes, the understanding was followed by ministers Kassio Nunes Marques, Luiz Fux, Dias Toffoli, Cristiano Zanin, Luís Roberto Barroso and Cármen Lúcia, with the result being favorable to Vorcaro's cause.
As revealed by UOL, the former banker celebrated the result of the trial in a message sent to his partner, Maurício Quadrado: "The vote on medicine is over. We won."
The owner of Banco Master also tried to influence the votes of Gilmar and Mendonça in actions that were of interest to him, however, he was unsuccessful in approaching them.
Vorcaro met with Gilmar, in April 2024, to ask him to vote in favor of a billion-dollar cause involving plants in the sugar and alcohol sector that would directly benefit him. The dean of the court, however, voted against the banker's thesis in judgments on specific cases.
