STF Plenary Debates Whether to Open Probe Into Minister Alexandre de Moraes

Overview

• President Edson Fachin convened an extraordinary plenary session on Tuesday to decide if the Supreme Federal Court will authorize a criminal investigation based on the Polícia Federal’s Operation Compliance Zero report.
• The PF report, made public in the Court by relator André Mendonça, contains messages the police attribute to Daniel Vorcaro that prosecutors say suggest contacts and commercial ties with Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
• The hearing turned tense as Moraes publicly accused Mendonça of acting for a political group and of manipulating investigations, while other ministers, notably Gilmar Mendes, alleged a political-electoral bias in the timing and handling of the case.
• Ministers Kassio Nunes Marques and Dias Toffoli declared impediment and suspicion respectively and will not vote, and the Prosecutor-General has formally challenged the legality of PF procedures and Mendonça’s steps; Fachin’s decision to assume the relatoria has also been contested.
• The session was suspended with key related hearings set for later this month, including a September 23 hearing on Mendonça, and the outcome could both authorize an inquiry into a sitting minister and deepen institutional and electoral tensions ahead of the October vote.