The president of Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), Edson Fachin, on Friday (September 4) called for an end to the so-called fake news inquiry and the approval of his ethics code as the answer to the crisis gripping the Court. He spoke at the Planalto Palace, at an event on funds for the justice system, alongside President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet and Solicitor General Jorge Messias.
According to Folha de S.Paulo, Fachin said there will be no "precipitation, nor omission" and promised an institutional response that is "firm, proportional and rigorous". He told news portal G1 that "the gravity of the facts does not allow shortcuts".
"Recent events demonstrate the soundness and urgency of three goals of our administration: the adoption of a Code of Ethics, the end of the fake news inquiry and the modernization of the justice system," Fachin said.
The fake news inquiry was opened by the STF, Brazil's highest court, in 2019 to investigate fraudulent news, false crime reports, threats and other attacks against the tribunal, its justices and their families. It has been under the rapporteurship of Justice Alexandre de Moraes for seven years, according to G1.
The clash behind the speech
Fachin spoke after Justice André Mendonça, who leads the Banco Master and INSS investigations at the Court, lifted the seal on a Federal Police report exposing messages between Moraes and former banker Daniel Vorcaro. In response, Moraes asked Fachin to open an investigation into his colleague, citing suspected administrative impropriety, abuse of authority and malfeasance, with "loss of judicial impartiality and favoritism toward certain political groups". The request rested on a Federal Police intelligence report that, by the document's own caveat, cannot be used as evidence.
Earlier on Friday, Fachin removed Moraes's request from the fake news inquiry. The two proceedings involving Court justices now sit with the STF presidency, and it is Fachin who will set the procedures and decide whether the cases reach the full bench, G1 reported. The Prosecutor General's office and Mendonça have five days to respond to the request, according to InfoMoney.
The next steps rest with the Court's president: setting the path for the two proceedings, deciding whether to send them to the full bench, and winning approval from his fellow justices for the ethics code he proposed.