Fernando Haddad, the Workers' Party (PT) candidate for governor of São Paulo, said on Monday (14) that he has never had any contact with former banker Daniel Vorcaro, the owner of Banco Master and the central figure in the scandal hanging over this year's election in Brazil. In a live interview with SP1, TV Globo's newscast in São Paulo, the former finance minister also admitted frustration with monetary policy under Central Bank President Gabriel Galípolo.
"I never received Daniel Vorcaro in my life. I was never in the same room with him. I never received a message or a phone call from him. I never sought him out because my team had already warned me that Daniel Vorcaro was a problem, a serious problem. We just didn't know the size of the problem. We are talking about the largest banking fraud in the country: 60 billion reais."
Asked about possible electoral fallout, Haddad tried to tie the scandal to right-wing politicians. "He financed Tarcísio's campaign, he financed Jair Bolsonaro's campaign. He has business with three of Bolsonaro's former ministers," he said. According to G1, Vorcaro donated 3 million reais to Bolsonaro's 2022 presidential campaign and 2 million reais to the campaign of Tarcísio de Freitas of the Republicanos party, Haddad's main rival in the São Paulo race.
Supervision and secrecy
The candidate repeated his argument that the Master crisis grew out of supervision failures under Roberto Campos Neto, who ran the Central Bank. "There is a serious problem at the Central Bank, because it was under the Central Bank of Roberto Campos, appointed by Jair Bolsonaro, that banker Daniel Vorcaro emerged, and his bank was liquidated and he was arrested under our administration. So we did our homework and took a very dangerous person out of circulation," he said. Poder360 reported the same remarks.
Haddad called for the secrecy on the investigations to be lifted before October's vote. "The judiciary cannot withhold information from citizens. Open everything. Whoever has to answer, let them answer. Whoever has to pay for something, let them pay, regardless of political party," he said. The SP1 anchor brought up Senator Jaques Wagner of the PT, whose name appears among those mentioned in the context of the inquiry. Haddad said the rule should apply to all parties.
Frustration with Galípolo
On the economy, Haddad said interest rates of 14% with inflation at 4% "are not justified". Asked whether appointing Galípolo was a decision he regretted, he admitted dissatisfaction with how the monetary authority has acted. "I have been frustrated with monetary policy. I think monetary policy is excessively tight, unnecessarily so," he said. He noted that most members of the Monetary Policy Committee, Galípolo included, were appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but said the mandate gives them independence: "After you appoint someone, that person has a mandate. They do as they please." The former minister said he respects the bank's formal autonomy and that his conversations with its officials are limited to presenting data and economic arguments.
His remarks came on a busy day at the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Brazil's top court. According to G1, Justice André Mendonça lifted the secrecy on another line of investigation into payments tied to Master on Monday, at the request of Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The full bench returns to the case on Tuesday (15). The São Paulo race continues meanwhile: a RealTime Big Data poll released in September put Tarcísio at 53% and Haddad at 36% of voter intentions for the first round.