BRB Scandal Moves to Center of Brasília’s 2026 Governor’s Race

The financial crisis at Banco de Brasília, the public bank controlled by Brazil’s Federal District, is becoming the central issue in Brasília’s 2026 governor’s race, reshaping alliances on the right and giving the left a clear line of attack against Governor Celina Leão.

Leão, from the conservative Progressive Party, took office after Ibaneis Rocha left the governorship to run for the Senate. According to O Globo, Ibaneis briefly signaled a break with his successor after she tried to distance herself from the scandal involving BRB and Banco Master. He later retreated and returned to publicly backing her re-election.

The case involves BRB’s attempted purchase and absorption of Banco Master, a deal now tied to allegations that the transaction was used to conceal multibillion-real losses. O Globo reported that the Federal District government reached an agreement with the federal government for a R$6.5 billion loan to support BRB. Brasil247, citing reporting by Valor Econômico and a government statement, said an independent audit had pointed to possible involvement by BRB executives in the purchase of fraudulent credit portfolios from Banco Master, prompting Leão to remove unnamed officials from their posts.

The crisis has immediate electoral consequences. Leão has said she was not consulted on matters involving Master and promised rigorous investigations. Her main left-wing opponent, Leandro Grass of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party, called that distancing an act of “political fraud,” arguing that it is naïve to believe the governor knew nothing about BRB’s direction under Ibaneis.

Grass formally launched his pre-campaign on May 19 with support from PSOL, Rede, PDT, PV and PCdoB. Senator Leila do Vôlei of the PDT and federal deputy Erika Kokay of the PT are expected to run for Senate on his ticket. The vice-governor slot remains unresolved, with the PSB divided after backing Ricardo Cappelli, a former federal security intervention official in Brasília after the January 8, 2023 riots.

On the right, the scandal has strained Leão’s expected alliance with the Liberal Party, the party of former president Jair Bolsonaro. The PL requested a parliamentary inquiry in the Federal District legislature to investigate BRB’s relationship with Banco Master. The local legislature said similar requests had already been filed by opposition parties, and lawmakers resumed debate over a CPI, Brazil’s equivalent of a legislative investigative committee, in March.

Federal deputy Bia Kicis and former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, both from the PL, attended the meeting that approved the CPI request. Kicis has said the party may reconsider its alliance with Leão if the governor is mentioned in any plea bargain by Paulo Henrique Costa, BRB’s former president. Veja reported that Costa’s attempt to negotiate a plea deal had stalled because his accounts so far lacked new evidence or useful proof for investigators.

The possible plea bargain has also attracted national attention. CNN Brasil reported that allies of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, a presidential pre-candidate and son of the former president, are concerned Costa could revive questions about a R$3.1 million BRB loan granted to Flávio in 2021 to buy a house in Brasília’s Lago Sul neighborhood. Flávio has said the loan is regular and paid monthly.

Ibaneis still wants to run for the Senate, but the BRB case has complicated his preferred path. O Globo reported that he hoped to share a ticket with Michelle Bolsonaro, an idea she rejected. She is instead seen as a possible Senate candidate alongside Kicis on Leão’s slate.

The race also includes internal right-wing turbulence. Senator Izalci Lucas, also from the PL, has launched a pre-candidacy for governor despite resistance from local party leaders and has used the BRB crisis to criticize Leão. Former governor José Roberto Arruda, from the PSD, is also mentioned as a possible contender, though he remains barred from office after a corruption conviction unless Brazil’s Supreme Court changes the legal framework affecting his eligibility.

For now, Leão’s campaign depends on containing both the financial damage to BRB and the political damage from a scandal that has united opponents across the spectrum. The bank’s rescue, the CPI push and any testimony from former executives may determine whether she runs as Ibaneis’s heir or as the governor forced to answer for his administration’s biggest crisis.