Former justices of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) are pressing the court to investigate the relationship between banker Daniel Vorcaro and Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The demand, reported by the Valdo Cruz blog at G1 on Monday, grew louder after images showed Moraes and his wife, a lawyer hired by Vorcaro, aboard one of the jets of the former owner of Banco Master.
The former justices who spoke to the blog say the court cannot leave the matter unexamined. They also argue that any irregularities attributed to Justice André Mendonça should be reviewed by the full bench. In their view, sweeping the suspicions under the rug would badly damage the court's image and keep it in a permanent crisis. One of them said everything must be investigated, including to prove who committed no criminal act in favor of Vorcaro.
An electoral calendar weighs on the court
Inside the court, the trend runs the other way. According to G1, the justices are not expected to take up either case before Brazil's October general elections. Justices who back Moraes hold that position. So do those who defend Mendonça, who prefer to wait and avoid new "shameful" scenes during the campaign.
The cases are already stalled. The session set for this week to rule on Moraes's petition against Mendonça was suspended. In the filing, the former rapporteur of the criminal case over the coup plot accuses the rapporteur of the Banco Master inquiry of acting politically and committing irregularities to target him. Mendonça's own request, asking the full bench to examine the messages exchanged between Vorcaro and Moraes, has been parked since Justice Flávio Dino asked for time to review the case, a step known in Brazilian procedure as a "vista". He is expected to return it only after the election ends.
The standoff carries a political cost. According to the blog's reading, the court's crisis hurts President Lula more and benefits Flávio Bolsonaro, the two frontrunners in the polls. BBC News Brasil described the court's situation as an unprecedented crisis. Diego Werneck, a law professor at Insper, told the broadcaster that not even impeaching justices, an idea pushed by right-wing candidates, would fix the picture.
What comes next depends on the calendar. The session on Moraes's petition against Mendonça remains suspended. The examination of the Vorcaro-Moraes messages, sought by Mendonça, should return to the full bench only after Dino hands the case back, which is expected after the election.