The president of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), Justice Edson Fachin, asked Justice André Mendonça on Thursday (10) to lift the secrecy covering the Master Bank case records pending at the court. The request covers Pet 15.556, the petition file at the origin of the investigation, and all procedures derived from it. According to InfoMoney, only material that could compromise investigative steps needed for future operations on the case would stay sealed.
At the STF, the justice assigned to a case, known as the relator, controls what stays under seal. Because Mendonça holds that role in the Master case, the move by the court's president takes the form of a request, as g1 reported. Fachin also asked that all files contained in or related to Pet 15.556 be sent, on a dedicated hard drive, to the presidency and to every justice's office. The measure prepares an extraordinary session scheduled for September 15, when the full bench is to weigh a Federal Police report on the case and a request by the Attorney General's Office (PGR) to void the document.
"Considering that Pet 16.662 was formed from Pet 15.556, I request that the distinguished Justice André Mendonça (rapporteur of Pet 15.556) send to this presidency and to the offices of the distinguished justices, on a dedicated hard drive, all procedures contained in or related to Pet 15.556, as well as lift the secrecy of Pet 15.556 (and of the procedures contained in or related to it), excepting only what concerns investigative steps whose secrecy is indispensable to carrying out the measure," Fachin wrote in an order quoted by g1 (translated from Portuguese).
A timeline of the crisis
The Master case at the STF gathers the investigations into Banco Master, owned by jailed former banker Daniel Vorcaro, and an inquiry into payments for a film about former president Jair Bolsonaro's life. According to g1, tensions between Mendonça's office and the Federal Police leadership over the pace of the inquiry predated the report, and in August President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the force's director general, Andrei Rodrigues, to meet with the rapporteur. The trigger of the current crisis was a Federal Police report, commissioned by Mendonça, that pointed to an alleged relationship between Vorcaro and Justice Alexandre de Moraes based on messages attributed to the banker.
On Wednesday (9), Fachin removed Moraes as rapporteur of the fake news inquiry he had run for more than seven years, suspended conflicting orders by Mendonça and Justice Flávio Dino over control of the Federal Police, keeping Rodrigues in office, and called the extraordinary session for Tuesday (15). On Thursday, according to newspaper O Globo, the court presidency delivered to the justices' offices the complete case file containing the Federal Police report, whose seal Mendonça had already lifted.
What each side says
Justices criticized Mendonça for commissioning an investigation into a member of the court itself without first submitting the matter to the full bench, and Attorney General Paulo Gonet asked that the report be voided. On Tuesday the bench is also set to discuss procedures for any eventual investigation involving Moraes, who currently faces no open investigation at the court. President Lula said on Wednesday that all secrecy in the case should be broken and complained about "selective leaks that affect the electoral race", a veiled reference to reports on the relationship between Moraes and Vorcaro, Folha de S.Paulo reported. The revelations have energized the Bolsonaro movement, the political force seeking to elect Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, a presidential candidate ahead of October's vote.
Behind the scenes, Fachin spent Thursday afternoon in internal consultations, receiving Justices Moraes, Mendonça, Dias Toffoli, Cristiano Zanin, Kassio Nunes Marques and Luiz Fux, as well as Attorney General Gonet. According to g1's reporting, six votes are considered firm: Gilmar Mendes, Flávio Dino and Cristiano Zanin are seen as aligned with Moraes, while Mendonça can count on Fux and Nunes Marques; the positions of Fachin and Cármen Lúcia remain uncertain. The immediate next step belongs to Mendonça, who must decide whether to grant the request and lift the secrecy. The extraordinary session follows on Tuesday, September 15, to rule on the Federal Police report. O Globo reported that a public statement by Moraes was expected on Monday (14), the eve of the session.