Eleven directors of Brazil's Federal Police placed their posts at the disposal of the acting director-general on Tuesday (Sept. 8), in a show of support for suspended chief Andrei Rodrigues and intelligence director Leandro Almada. In a joint statement, the agency's leadership declared its "total support" for the two officers and rejected what it called unjustified attacks on the institution. The statement was released hours after Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice André Mendonça ordered the preventive suspension of both officials.
"To make it absolutely clear, we repudiate any and every attempt to impute to them or to the Federal Police a non-republican conduct. Such accusations, devoid of foundation, offend the history, the credibility and the institutional commitment that have always guided their conduct. In this act, we place our posts at the disposal of the substitute director-general."
The posts were offered to executive director William Marcel Murad, the agency's number two, who took over as interim chief. The Federal Police, Brazil's main federal investigative force, has 15 directorates in all, according to news site G1. Besides the two suspended officials, the statement was not signed by the internal affairs chief, Aletea Vega Marona Kunde, or by Murad himself. Signatories include the heads of the organized crime and corruption directorate (Dennis Cali) and the Amazon and environment directorate (Humberto Freire de Barros). The directors also dismissed the criticism as politically driven: "Narratives markedly influenced by political-electoral interests do not have the power to erase the history, the reputation and the professional trajectory of anyone," the note reads.
Why the chief was suspended
Mendonça argued that the Federal Police had carried out systematic, illegal surveillance for more than a month targeting his own work and that of Attorney General of the Union Jorge Messias, the government's top lawyer. The justice also ordered the immediate opening of criminal and administrative proceedings before the police's internal affairs office and suspended the production and sharing of intelligence reports analyzing the conduct of judges, government lawyers or judicial police activity.
What happens next
The STF's Second Panel, a five-justice chamber, reviewed the order in a virtual session and a majority of three voted to keep the suspensions in place: Mendonça himself and Justices Kassio Nunes Marques and Luiz Fux. The vote was suspended when Justice Gilmar Mendes asked for more time to study the case. According to G1, the request does not overturn Mendonça's injunction, which remains in force.
The panel's judgment stays suspended until Mendes returns the case. In the meantime, Rodrigues and Almada remain out of their posts, and the internal affairs office must open the inquiries Mendonça ordered. The office of the Attorney General of the Union is preparing a challenge to the decision, arguing it violates the president's exclusive power to appoint and dismiss the Federal Police chief, according to the G1 blog of journalist Andreia Sadi.