Brazil Supreme Court judge suspends Federal Police chief

A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has suspended the director of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, in a move that intensifies an unprecedented crisis inside the country's highest court.

Justice André Mendonça also removed the Federal Police intelligence chief, Leandro Almada da Costa, according to his 33-page ruling. Mendonça is overseeing the case involving banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is in preventive detention over an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud.

The judge said there were indications of “systematic” and illegal monitoring targeting Vorcaro and Attorney General Jorge Messias. He based the preventive suspension on a Federal Police intelligence report that, according to the article, had no evidentiary value. Mendonça called a virtual session of the Supreme Court's Second Panel to endorse the measures.

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systematic

The ruling further opens a conflict at the court less than a month before Brazil's presidential and legislative elections on Oct. 4. The wider scandal centers on messages between Vorcaro, the former owner of Banco Master, and Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The police say Vorcaro asked Moraes for protection and asked in writing, days before his arrest, whether he should leave the country.

Moraes also reviewed a multimillion-dollar services contract between his wife's law firm and Banco Master, according to documents declassified by Mendonça the previous week. Rodrigues and Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet have also been mentioned in messages linked to the scandal. Moraes, who objected to the steps taken against him, in turn asked for an investigation into Mendonça's handling of the case. Mendonça said it was urgent to protect institutional guarantees from the consequences of intelligence reports repeatedly prepared inside the Federal Police over a prolonged period.

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It is urgent to adopt measures effectively designed to guarantee institutional safeguards