Brazil police target top Lula ally in widening Banco Master lender probe
Investigators say the senator may have received money, an apartment and private plane use in return for backing the failed lender.
- On Thursday, Brazilian federal police executed 18 search-and-seizure warrants in Brasilia, Bahia, and Sao Paulo, targeting Senator Jaques Wagner as part of a widening corruption investigation into Banco Master.
- Investigators are exploring a "possible illicit relationship" between Wagner and Banco Master, which courts ordered liquidated last year, alleging the senator received "undue economic advantages" including private planes and millions in compensation.
- Wagner denies all allegations, posting that his "property is clean" and noting a "phone call of solidarity" from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who expressed confidence in him.
- Senator Flavio Bolsonaro released a 12-point crime plan on Thursday, including reducing the age of criminal responsibility to 16 and treating criminal networks as "terrorist" organizations, echoing policies championed by United States President Donald Trump.
- Crime remains a top issue in the race to unseat President Lula, with recent polling showing roughly 49 percent of respondents would back the incumbent in a head-to-head contest against the right-wing senator.
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25 Articles
The inclusion in the investigations of Wagner, leader of the government bloc in the Senate, brings this scandal closer to Lula, who seeks to be re-elected in October.
The Brazilian Federal Police suspects that the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) in the Senate, Jaques Wagner, a close ally of President Lula, received an apartment as a bribe from the Master Bank, according to the Brazilian press. The entity, which was liquidated by the authorities at the end of 2025, stars in a gigantic fraud. It is a case with increasing political repercussions. The police have launched an operation on Thursday to comply with…
Brazil’s police targets a close ally of President Lula in sprawling fraud probe
Brazil's federal police executed search and seizure warrants targeting a high-ranking senator and friend of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday as part of a fraud and graft probe that has ensnared several politicians ahead of October's general election.
Associated Press News
Brazil's police targets a close ally of President Lula in sprawling fraud probe
Brazil’s Federal Police have executed search and seizure warrants targeting a high-ranking senator and ally of President Lula as part of a fraud and graft probe.
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