Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office council rejected a request to investigate Attorney General Paulo Gonet over the Banco Master case by five votes to four, while unanimously deciding not to remove him from related proceedings. The request, filed by the Novo party, followed messages found by federal police on former banker Daniel Vorcaro’s phone that mentioned Gonet, as well as a photograph of the two at a 2024 London event.¹

The majority view was that the available material did not establish the kind of close relationship or favorable official act that could support an allegation of misconduct. Rapporteur Francisco Sanseverino cautioned that messages should not be assessed “in isolation and/or out of context,” while Vice Attorney General Hindenburgo Chateaubriand said there was no evidence of an intimate friendship between Gonet and Vorcaro.² Gonet has denied being close to Vorcaro, describing their only direct contact as “brief and banal.”²

Dissenting council members did not necessarily argue that a formal criminal investigation should begin immediately. Instead, they said a designated prosecutor should conduct a preliminary examination into specific questions: who arranged or paid for London-related travel, whether there were further calls or meetings, and what contacts were mediated by lawyer Ciro Soares.³

Their concern also focused on Gonet’s request to invalidate a federal police report that mentioned him. Ana Borges argued that his appearance in the material raised a potential conflict requiring examination; Samantha Chantal Dobrowolski similarly maintained that he should have abstained from acting in that particular matter.⁴

The result therefore produced two distinct readings. Gonet’s supporters regard the ruling as an institutional resolution that leaves him legally able to continue. Critics and some observers see the four dissenting votes as evidence that doubts inside the institution have not been fully settled, even though the council declined to pursue them further.¹