Justice André Mendonça of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) has ordered the Federal Police to open criminal and administrative investigations into Andrei Rodrigues, the agency's director-general, who was suspended from the post this Tuesday (8 September). The order is part of the same ruling that also removed Rodrigues and the director of police intelligence, Leandro Almada da Costa, on a precautionary basis.
According to InfoMoney, the force's internal affairs office, the Corregedoria, must report to the case's rapporteur any measures it considers necessary as the inquiries proceed. Mendonça wrote that the two officials had to leave their posts so that Supreme Court justices, the attorney general of the Union, Jorge Messias, and members of the Federal Police itself could work free of "unlawful constraints". Rodrigues and Almada are under investigation; the suspension is precautionary, does not amount to a conviction, and both men keep the presumption of innocence.
"The Federal Police, through its Corregedoria, shall promote the opening of criminal and administrative-disciplinary investigative proceedings aimed at clarifying the serious facts identified," the justice wrote.
What the inquiries will examine
According to the ruling, as reported by G1 and BBC News Brasil, the director-general had sent Justice Alexandre de Moraes at least six "intelligence reports", produced in secret between August 3 and 31, 2026, within the court's high-profile Fake News inquiry. Mendonça says he himself had been under illicit, systematic monitoring by police intelligence for more than 30 days, and that Messias was also a target of what the reports call "directed collection" of information.
"This is illicit monitoring of a Justice of the country's Supreme Court, which by itself reveals the gravity of the situation," Mendonça wrote, comparing the situation to George Orwell's novel 1984. He described the reports as apocryphal, with no letterhead, crest, signature or file number, a "legal nothing" at odds with Brazil's National Public Security Intelligence Doctrine. The ruling also points to a leak of classified material: the documents detailed ongoing investigations involving the politicians Antonio Rueda and ACM Neto, and their disclosure alerted potential targets to precautionary measures, "completely frustrating" their effectiveness.
How the case reached the court
The crisis grew out of the Banco Master investigation. Rodrigues was named in material found on the phone of banker Daniel Vorcaro, and messages on the device referred to "Andrei", which the Federal Police identified as the director-general. On September 2, the party Novo asked the STF to protect the independence of the investigations; the next day it requested Rodrigues's pretrial detention, citing indications of his role in an alleged criminal influence network led by Vorcaro. None of this has been proven. Also on September 3, GloboNews journalist Monica Waldvogel reported that Rodrigues himself had confirmed to her that the force had drawn up five or six intelligence reports for "internal use and record-keeping" on what it considered irregularities; her remarks are transcribed in the ruling.
Professional associations reacted to the documents' release. The union of state intelligence professionals at Abin, Intelis, said state intelligence "is not to be confused with criminal investigation, nor with the drafting of documents intended to form an accusatory judgment". The president of the Federal Police delegates' association, ADPF, called the material's circulation outside the force "totally irregular".
The next step in the case is set for this same Tuesday (8 September): Mendonça asked for an extraordinary virtual session of the court's Second Panel, a five-justice chamber, to ratify the removals and the opening of the investigations. The ruling also immediately suspended the production and sharing of intelligence reports aimed at assessing the conduct of judges, government lawyers or judicial police work.