Justice Luiz Fux of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) on Tuesday defended the removal of Federal Police director-general Andrei Rodrigues, an order issued by Justice André Mendonça and submitted for review to the court's Second Panel. Fux spoke during a full-court session weighing whether to open an investigation into Justice Alexandre de Moraes over messages extracted from the phone of Daniel Vorcaro, former owner of Banco Master.
According to G1, Fux said: "There has to be judicial responsibility. We cannot allow an agency to remain acting against the Supreme Federal Court, defying an STF justice." Agreeing with his colleague, Mendonça, speaking off microphone, said: "Today we have a parallel Federal Police."
"The Second Panel found a series of deviations of purpose in the conduct of the director-general of the Federal Police. [...] What cannot happen is the Federal Police working against the Judiciary, instrumentalizing people to sustain positions against the Judiciary," said Fux, who also said he has "the greatest admiration for the Federal Police."
Timeline of the crisis
The standoff at the top of the force grew out of the Banco Master investigation, which Mendonça oversees as rapporteur. The justice lifted the secrecy on a Federal Police report, produced at his request, containing messages found on Vorcaro's phone. The exchanges directly mentioned the name "Andrei," which the force itself identified as director-general Andrei Rodrigues. According to G1, the material also pointed to 52 messages between Vorcaro and Moraes and a 130 million reais contract between the bank and the law firm of the justice's wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes.
Moraes then lifted the secrecy on six "intelligence reports" produced covertly by the Federal Police through August. The documents contained allegations about Mendonça's conduct in the Master and INSS cases and about the attorney general of the Union, Jorge Messias. On September 8, Mendonça ordered the removal of Andrei and of intelligence director Leandro Almada, arguing the papers revealed irregular action against STF members and other authorities. Justice Flávio Dino reinstated the two officers, but STF President Edson Fachin suspended both decisions and kept Andrei in charge of the force.
Competing accounts and next steps
Andrei Rodrigues denies wrongdoing. In a filing sent to Fachin, the director-general said the reports were produced regularly and delivered in compliance with an order from Moraes in the fake news inquiry, InfoMoney reported. The documents themselves stated that they carried no probative value. Mendonça calls the reports apocryphal, unsigned and lacking formal identification, and argues there was a deviation of purpose. Moraes counters that they are not apocryphal because Federal Police delegates wrote them, and calls the inquiry against him "fraudulent." In Tuesday's session he accused his colleague of trying to steer the Federal Police and said he has witnesses; Mendonça replied that the accusation "is a lie."
The Second Panel's virtual vote already has a majority to ratify the removal, G1 reported, but its conclusion was interrupted after Justice Gilmar Mendes requested time to review the case. Andrei's definitive status will be decided by Fachin. Moraes' accusations against Mendonça are scheduled for a full-court session on September 23.