Justice Alexandre de Moraes of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) was assigned by lottery to report a case that asks the Senate for the entry and exit records of visitors to senators' offices between 2019 and 2026. Among the names covered by the request are his own wife, lawyer Viviane Barci de Moraes, and Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro.
The court's system distributed the case by lot. Folha de S.Paulo reports the draw took place on Friday (18); CartaCapital dates it to Monday (21). The justice can declare himself barred from hearing the case. Folha says it contacted the STF press office on Monday by email and WhatsApp to ask whether he will step aside and received no reply.
The request was filed by Curitiba city councilman and congressional candidate Guilherme Kilter of the Novo party. He wants the times of eight people who entered the Senate in the period, according to CartaCapital. Besides Viviane and Vorcaro, the list includes Fabio Luis Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha, son of President Lula; Antonio Carlos Camilo Antunes, known as Careca do INSS; and union leader Frei Chico, the president's brother. Kilter argues the records are needed to oversee Senate meetings and to track investigations into irregularities, CartaCapital reports.
How the case reached the court
Kilter first asked for the data under the LAI, Brazil's freedom of information law. The Senate refused. He then sued in federal court in Parana and named Senate President Davi Alcolumbre as the responsible authority. Judge Thais Sampaio da Silva Machado of the 1st Federal Court of Curitiba ruled the case belonged to the STF, because Alcolumbre benefits from "foro privilegiado", the privileged jurisdiction that sends cases involving top officials to the Supreme Court.
"Since the President of the Federal Senate is the highest representative and a member of that chamber's governing board, original jurisdiction to hear this writ against an act attributed to him exceeds the jurisdiction of this first-instance federal court, falling exclusively to the Supreme Court," the judge wrote.
According to Folha, Viviane's law firm signed a 131 million reais contract with Banco Master, and federal police say the document was edited by the justice before it was signed. The firm denies any irregularity and says he intervened as the husband of a partner. The other names on the list linked to Lula were central to the joint Senate inquiry, or CPI, into improper deductions from INSS pension payments; its final report, which sought charges against Lulinha, was rejected, and the matter is also under investigation at the STF.
The next step depends on Moraes. According to CNN Brasil, he can declare himself conflicted or barred and ask court President Edson Fachin for a new draw. No deadline is set. If he keeps the case, it would be the first involving his wife and Banco Master to pass through his desk: the case on the bank runs in the court's Second Panel, a panel Moraes does not sit on, CNN reports.