Justice Alexandre de Moraes of Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) asked the court's president, Edson Fachin, on Thursday (3) to open a formal inquiry into fellow justice André Mendonça. Filed within the so-called fake news inquiry, the petition cites "strong indications" of administrative improbity, abuse of authority, crime of responsibility and favoring of political groups in Mendonça's handling of the Banco Master and INSS fraud cases.
According to G1, Moraes built the request on three alleged acts: taking over the direction of police investigations with measures that broke the chain of custody of evidence; improperly conducting talks over possible plea deals, including contacts with lawyers of would-be collaborators and offers of benefits not provided by law; and steering the investigation toward chosen targets for "personal and political reasons". The targets, he says, included Moraes himself and Senate President Davi Alcolumbre. The column of Mônica Bergamo in Folha de S.Paulo reports the ruling was signed in Inquiry 4.781, opened in 2019 to investigate threats and disinformation campaigns against the court's justices.
One passage of a Federal Police intelligence report quoted in the ruling says Mendonça ordered, on his own motion, an investigative step to produce evidence against Moraes outside legal procedure:
"Justice André Mendonça determined - DE OFÍCIO [on his own motion] - a police investigative measure for the illegal production of evidence against Justice Alexandre de Moraes (...) without having signed the judicial decision and without communicating it through the legal procedural channels, as well as keeping the matter from the Attorney General's Office."
Moraes also said the report shows different treatment of authorities in equal situations, with "very different stances" toward justices Dias Toffoli and Nunes Marques, and describes a "judge acting as investigator". The claims are indications raised in a petition: Mendonça has not been charged or convicted, and the request now rests with the court's leadership. He had not commented publicly as of publication.
How the crisis developed
The clash between the two justices escalated within days. On Tuesday (1), Mendonça lifted the secrecy on a Federal Police report, commissioned by himself, that exposed messages and contacts between Moraes and Daniel Vorcaro, the former owner of Banco Master. On the same day, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR) asked for the investigation ordered by Mendonça to be declared null. G1 reports the disclosed messages also show closeness between Vorcaro and Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet.
In the ruling, Moraes cited the Constitution and the court's internal rules, under which any suspected common crime by a judge must be examined by a panel, not a single justice. Fachin now decides whether to open the proceeding and refer it to a collegiate body, taking the measures he deems necessary, as InfoMoney highlighted. No deadline has been set.