President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attacked São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas on Saturday (5) at a campaign rally in São José do Rio Preto, in the interior of São Paulo state. The event was held alongside Fernando Haddad, the Workers' Party candidate for governor. From the same stage, Haddad tied Tarcísio to the Banco Master scandal and called the bank "a mafia to perpetuate itself in power".
Lula spoke for about 20 minutes, according to Folha de S.Paulo. He called Tarcísio, a former Bolsonaro minister now seeking reelection, "a guy from Rio de Janeiro" and "an Army lieutenant", and contrasted the governor's record with that of Haddad, a University of São Paulo graduate and former mayor of the city.
"It is such an abomination that a guy from Rio de Janeiro shows up, an Army lieutenant who did not even know which school he would vote at, and the people of São Paulo prefer him over a comrade educated at USP, a comrade who was mayor of the city, Finance minister and Education minister," Lula said.
He then dared the crowd to name a single public work delivered by the governor. "I challenge you to remember any work this man did in São Paulo. I doubt it, I doubt it. Can you remember? There is no work from the past government and no work now." According to Folha, Lula made no direct reference to presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro or to the institutional crisis at the Supreme Federal Court, Brazil's top court. He spent the speech listing federal government achievements and rallying supporters around Haddad.
Haddad targets Banco Master
Haddad took a harsher tone. According to Folha, he said the bank did business with three former ministers of the Jair Bolsonaro government and that Master money also reached the Central Bank president, the candidate for São Paulo governor and the presidential candidate.
"Three ministers, the Central Bank president, the candidate for governor of São Paulo and the candidate for President of the Republic, everybody put money in, put their hands on Master's money, and we don't call it by its name? This is a mafia. Whoever built Banco Master in this country is a mafia to perpetuate itself in power," Haddad said.
Poder360 reports that Haddad said the bank "was born, grew and developed" under Roberto Campos Neto, the Central Bank president appointed by Bolsonaro, and named former ministers Ciro Nogueira, Flávia Arruda and Fábio Faria as recipients of funds from Master founder Daniel Vorcaro. "Master and Daniel Vorcaro, without a doubt, corrupted a lot of people," he said. Haddad also went after Flávio Bolsonaro, saying Lula "is competing with a guy about whom little is known and everything known is bad". He called the rival a "pulha", Portuguese for scoundrel, and said former president Bolsonaro "tried to stage a coup to stop Lula and Alckmin from taking office".
The claim against Tarcísio rests on a plea-bargain proposal from Vorcaro that the Federal Police and federal prosecutors rejected, as Folha reports. The former banker said he donated 3 million reais to the 2022 campaign of the then candidate for governor, without naming Tarcísio, in order to keep the Credcesta contract, Master's payroll-deductible credit card. Poder360 puts the figure at 5 million reais and says the transaction was handled by Gilberto Kassab, leader of the PSD party. Tarcísio and Kassab deny any wrongdoing.
The first round of Brazil's general elections is set for October 4. Tarcísio runs for reelection as governor of São Paulo. Haddad, Lula's finance minister, seeks the statehouse. Lula seeks reelection against Flávio Bolsonaro and other candidates.