R$ 12 million: that is the total in bribes that an internal inquiry at Brazil's Central Bank says Banco Master paid to two of the institution's own employees, according to a G1 report published on Sunday (13). The two worked in the unit that checks whether banks follow the rules and can fine them. That is the work that protects Brazilians who hold accounts, savings or loans at banks.
According to the inquiry's report, Paulo Sérgio Neves de Souza, former head of the supervision directorate, allegedly received R$ 8 million, part of it while still in the job, and Belline Santana, a former chief of banking supervision, about R$ 4 million. Supervision is the Central Bank branch that examines how banks operate and applies penalties. Together, the amounts equal 200 years of wages for someone earning R$ 5,000 a month.
How it works: the inquiry, called a sindicância, is an internal probe run by the institution itself, with no power to arrest or press criminal charges. It can lead to an administrative case and dismissal, and its findings go to the Federal Police, which handles the criminal side. In this case, the material was also sent to the CGU, the federal government's watchdog for the civil service.
How the money allegedly moved
The transfers were disguised as ordinary business deals with companies tied to Daniel Vorcaro, the banker who controls Master, according to the inquiry. Paulo Sérgio claims the money came from the sale of a small farm in Minas Gerais state to Pipe Participações, a company owned by Fabiano Zettel, Vorcaro's brother-in-law, and from later leasing the same land back. The Central Bank concluded those deals may also be bribes.
"There are strong indications that the purchase and sale contract signed between Paulo Sérgio and Pipe Participações was a mere artifice to conceal the receipt of a bribe," the Central Bank report says.
Belline says he was paid for consulting work for a company called Varajo, owned by Leonardo Palhares, whom investigators describe as one of Vorcaro's operators. In his account, the job was a financial education project for young people from poor neighborhoods, later billed through his company, Inspiração Projetos Educacionais. The Central Bank commission found the reports he delivered too thin to justify a payment of R$ 4 million, more than 66 years of wages at R$ 5,000 a month, and concluded the contracts were "a mere simulation to conceal improper payments".
How the suspicion began and what comes next
Colleagues reported that the two men were spending beyond their public-service salaries, and an anonymous complaint reinforced the alert, Central Bank staff told GloboNews. The inquiry compared the men's assets with their pay and found their wealth had grown far faster than their income allowed. Both have been suspended since January, with no access to the Central Bank building or its systems.
In March, the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), which investigates wrongdoing in the civil service, opened an administrative case that could end in their dismissal. The findings were also sent to the Federal Police, which runs the criminal investigation. On Friday (11), the men's lawyers said they always acted within their duties and that their contacts with Master were strictly institutional, with no interference in supervision.