Justice André Mendonça of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) rejected a Federal Police request to use a mansion valued at 30 million reais as a work base in Belo Horizonte, and ordered the property sold at auction. The owner is former banker Daniel Vorcaro, founder of Banco Master and a target of the court's money laundering inquiry known as the Master case. According to G1 and Folha de S.Paulo, the case became public on Friday (11), when court documents were unsealed. The police request dated from March 18.
The police request
The force wanted the house to host its newly created corruption and money laundering investigation group in Minas Gerais state, which had no office of its own. "There would be strong public interest in the measure, considering the evidence of money laundering committed by the investigated de facto owner of the property," the Federal Police wrote. The Attorney General's Office (PGR) backed the request.
The mansion sits in Belvedere, one of the most expensive neighborhoods of the Minas Gerais capital, according to Folha. It has a pool, a spa, a gym, sports courts, an elevator and a home theater. Nobody was living there when officers served a search warrant. The newspaper also reports the house changed hands for 30 million reais in a private contract, although the taxable value listed with the city government was 12.5 million reais.
The ruling and the dispute
"Although no one currently lives in the property, the inspection report shows it is a luxurious house with high-end furniture, leisure areas, a gourmet space with bars, a gym, a spa and game courts. The photographs in the case file confirm the eminently residential and recreational nature of the asset, showing wide and sophisticated spaces designed for leisure, rest and private use, not for the ordinary operation of a police unit or an investigative administrative structure," Mendonça wrote.
The justice added that converting the house for institutional use would require "significant interventions" and could generate high costs. He chose an early sale instead: "The administrative use of a high-end property, with leisure areas, bars, a spa and a game court, is less suited to the intended public purpose than its conversion into value through early disposal."
Vorcaro's lawyers called the police request "absurd" and are fighting the auction. In their view, the investigation is still running and no criminal charges have been filed. "Considering what is concrete and has been disclosed by the investigations, there is effectively no debt established outside the Liquidation, that is, no definitively settled financial issue has been raised," the defense said.
In the latest filing, on August 26, the PGR opposed the defense request to suspend the auction. Mendonça has issued no new ruling on the property since. The Master case inquiries have been sent to the court's presidency under Justice Edson Fachin, according to G1.