President of the STF denies Moraes' request to unify judgments on the Banco Master case

The president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), minister Edson Fachin, denied this Saturday (12) minister Alexandre de Moraes' request to judge in a unified manner two parallel investigations into the Banco Master case.

With the decision, Fachin continued to hold the Plenary session dedicated exclusively to the process relating to Moraes and scheduled the analysis of the case involving the conduct of Minister André Mendonça for September 23rd.

Moraes had presented the request to the Presidency alleging the "concrete risk of contradictory decisions and procedural turmoil" if the processes were assessed separately.

Understand what is determined in each case:

1. The investigation into Alexandre de Moraes' messages: this process analyzes information from the Federal Police about contacts and messages exchanged between former banker Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Banco Master, and minister Alexandre de Moraes. This is the case kept on the agenda of the court's extraordinary session.

2. The investigation into André Mendonça's conduct: this second arm brings together reports from the Federal Police on André Mendonça's own actions in conducting the operations. The report deals with suspicions raised by the PF regarding impartiality and an alleged selective targeting of investigations against political targets — such as the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre, and Moraes himself.

Why did the ministers deadlock?

Alexandre de Moraes criticized the separation of analyzes and accused Mendonça of making a "selective choice" in the disclosure of case documents.

According to Moraes, Mendonça removed the confidentiality of only part of the procedures, omitting around 180 documents and files from the court system.

For Moraes, judging his situation in isolation, without at the same time appreciating the reports on Mendonça's conduct, would bring the risk of contradictory decisions and turmoil in the process.

He demanded the total overthrow of secrecy and the joining of the two agendas.

On the other hand, President Edson Fachin explained that the two cases are at different stages. The process regarding the messages relating to Moraes was already ready and released for judgment by the ministers.

The process regarding Mendonça's conduct still has open deadlines for collecting information and formal statements.

Therefore, Fachin concluded that taking the second process to the Plenary before the end of the deadline would make the analysis unfeasible, opting to schedule it for the end of September.

The background: Banco Master and the film Dark Horse

The clash at the STF occurs in the context of Federal Police investigations into financial fraud at Banco Master and ramifications involving political figures.

One of the fronts investigates the alleged direction of parliamentary amendments passed on to cultural entities and producers to finance the film Dark Horse, a biopic about former president Jair Bolsonaro.

The topic led to internal disagreements about which minister should be the rapporteur responsible for centralization.