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🇧🇷 Brazil /Elections & Politics

‘There Is No Room for Shadows,’ Celso de Mello Says of Moraes’ Role in Master Case

From Estadão · () Portuguese

Translated from Portuguese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Ongoing story
  • Former Brazilian Supreme Court president Celso de Mello urged the court to provide broad public disclosure about cases damaging public confidence in its judges.
  • His comments followed reports of messages from banker Daniel Vorcaro to Justice Alexandre de Moraes concerning investigations into Banco Master.
  • De Mello said no authority could invoke the dignity of office to avoid public scrutiny and that the court must not shield individual misconduct.

“There is no room for shadows,” former Brazilian Supreme Court president Celso de Mello warned as pressure grows over Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ involvement in the Banco Master case.

De Mello called for broad transparency from the Supreme Federal Court in cases that have caused a loss of public confidence in the integrity, impartiality and independence of its judges. He said such controversies had also produced serious damage to the court’s authority.

There is no room for shadows

· Celso de MelloThe former Supreme Court president called for transparency amid concerns about public trust in the court.

His remarks came seven days after Estadão reported 51 compromising messages sent by banker Daniel Vorcaro to Moraes. According to the report, Vorcaro asked the justice to intervene with Federal Police Director-General Andrei Rodrigues and Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet in an effort to halt investigations into alleged fraudulent Banco Master transactions. The messages also addressed a possible departure by Vorcaro from Brazil days before his arrest.

Ministers, whoever they may be, must prevent possible illegal conduct, or even ethically censurable behavior, from casting the corrosive shadow of suspicion over the Supreme Federal Court

· Celso de MelloHe argued that judges must protect the court from suspicions arising from individual conduct.

De Mello said a motion signed by him and 12 other former justices, and delivered to current court president Edson Fachin, did not concern any single episode. Instead, he said, it addressed cases and events that had damaged confidence in the institution.

“Ministers, whoever they may be, must prevent possible illegal conduct, or even ethically censurable behavior, from casting the corrosive shadow of suspicion over the Supreme Federal Court,” De Mello said. He added that “no authority is above the law, nor may it invoke the dignity of office to avoid public scrutiny.” In his view, public transparency does not constrain the judiciary. It protects and dignifies it, while reminding the court that no power in a democracy is absolute or exempt from public accountability.

No authority is above the law, nor may it invoke the dignity of office to avoid public scrutiny

· Celso de MelloHe rejected the use of official status as a shield against public examination.
About this summary

Originally published by Estadão in Portuguese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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