No Progress on Banco Master CPMI: Alcolumbre Continues to Defy Constitution Despite Girão’s Bold Stand
By Hotsponews
As of today, April 9, 2026, no progress whatsoever in the installation of the long-overdue Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) into the massive Banco Master financial scandal. Senate President Davi Alcolumbre has yet to read the request in a joint session or take any concrete steps to launch the investigation—despite overwhelming support from the parliamentary minority and a fresh extrajudicial notification delivered just yesterday.
Senator Eduardo Girão’s courageous confrontation in the Senate plenary on April 8 remains the latest and most direct challenge to this institutional stonewalling. Girão, joined by Deputies Carlos Jordy and Marcel Van Hattem, formally protocolled the notification to pressure Alcolumbre into fulfilling his constitutional duty. He made it unmistakably clear: the CPMI request, protocolled on February 3, 2026, meets every legal requirement, with 239 federal deputies and 42 senators signing on—well above the one-third threshold mandated by the Constitution.
This is not politics as usual; it is a fundamental right of the minority to demand scrutiny of grave public interest matters. Delaying the CPMI does nothing but protect potential insiders and erode public confidence in Brazil’s legislative institutions at a moment when transparency is desperately needed.
The Banco Master scandal continues to cast a long shadow over the financial system and political circles. The bank’s liquidation by the Central Bank in November 2025 exposed alleged fraud on a staggering scale, including manipulated accounting, fraudulent consignado loans that preyed on INSS retirees and public servants, and losses potentially reaching billions of reais. Victims—hardworking Brazilians who trusted the system—deserve answers about where the money went, who benefited, and whether regulatory or political connections allowed the scheme to flourish unchecked.
Conservatives have rightly warned that such episodes reveal deeper problems: regulatory capture, cronyism, and an unwillingness by those in power to allow sunlight into uncomfortable corners. Related inquiries, such as attempts to extend the CPMI on INSS fraud (which also touched on Master elements), have faced similar roadblocks, premature closures, or interference from other branches. Patterns like these fuel legitimate skepticism that powerful interests are being shielded rather than held accountable.
Senator Girão and allied voices in the opposition continue to press the case, emphasizing that installation is an obligation, not a political concession. Earlier efforts, including a mandamus to the Supreme Federal Court (STF), have not yet broken the impasse. Meanwhile, public frustration grows as Brazilians watch yet another major scandal risk being buried under procedural delays and selective inaction.
True accountability requires more than speeches—it demands action. The Brazilian people, especially the victims of this alleged fraud and the taxpayers who ultimately bear the burden through guarantee funds, are owed a full, unimpeded investigation. Who authorized what? Were there conflicts of interest involving regulators, politicians, or even judicial figures? A properly functioning CPMI would pursue these questions rigorously, without fear or favor.
Until Alcolumbre honors the Constitution and installs the commission, the opposition’s fight for truth in the Banco Master affair stands as a principled defense of limited government, parliamentary independence, and justice for ordinary citizens. Delays only deepen distrust in Brasília. The time for excuses is over; the demand for transparency must prevail.