A public feud between two justices on Brazil's Supreme Court has erupted into a deep institutional crisis just weeks before the country's October presidential election, fuelled by the sprawling Banco Master scandal.
At the centre of the dispute is Justice Alexandre de Moraes, one of the most powerful and controversial figures in Brazil's judiciary, who previously convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro. New evidence reportedly points to contacts between Moraes and Daniel Vorcaro, the owner of Banco Master and a key figure in the case that erupted after the collapse of the $10 billion bank.
The revelations have turned Moraes into one of the central figures in the scandal, at a moment when the electoral race between Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro, the former president's son, has become extremely close.
The messages that sparked the crisis
The crisis escalated on 1 September, when Justice Andre Mendonca declassified a police report alleging that Vorcaro had sent messages to Moraes asking for help shortly before his arrest in November. The same report claims the two men had met on several occasions.
According to material that has been made public, Vorcaro asked in the messages whether he should leave Brazil and requested that Moraes intervene with the attorney general and the head of the federal police. Digital forensic investigators found no responses from Moraes.
Two days later, Vorcaro was arrested at Sao Paulo airport as he headed toward a private jet bound for Dubai.
Moraes hits back
Moraes responded by going on the offensive against Mendonca. He requested an investigation into his colleague for abuse of power and maladministration, arguing that Mendonca had acted against specific individuals for personal and political reasons.
Mendonca, who served as Jair Bolsonaro's justice minister and was appointed to the Supreme Court by him, has not publicly responded to the accusations. The open conflict between the two justices has plunged the Supreme Court into one of the most serious internal crises in its history.
Scandal enters the election race
The case has taken on added political weight because it has erupted just weeks before the presidential election. Lula, although he is not accused in the Banco Master case, finds himself in a difficult position, since corruption has long been a sensitive issue for him. The Brazilian president was previously imprisoned over corruption cases before the convictions were later annulled.
Flavio Bolsonaro, for his part, is trying to capitalise politically on the crisis, reviving calls for Moraes's removal. He told supporters that a vote for Lula was a vote for de Moraes.
Flavio Bolsonaro also under scrutiny
The affair has not left Flavio Bolsonaro untouched either. It emerged in May that he had secured multimillion-dollar funding from Vorcaro for a film production about his father. He maintains it was a private sponsorship involving no wrongdoing.
Despite the revelations, the 45-year-old son of the former president has significantly narrowed the gap in the polls and now appears roughly level with Lula, who is seeking a fourth, non-consecutive term.
A 130 million reais contract
Pressure on Moraes had already been building before the disputed messages were made public. The justice has faced questions over a contract worth roughly 130 million reais between Banco Master and the law firm run by his wife. He has previously denied intervening on the bank's behalf.
Investigators believe Vorcaro built an extensive network of influence reaching into Congress, the judiciary and the executive branch. No formal charges have been filed against him over the case so far, and he denies any wrongdoing.
A point of no return
The crisis has struck an institution that in recent years was held up internationally as a bulwark against attempts to undermine Brazil's democratic order. The political right, which has for years accused Moraes of political bias and curbing free speech, now appears emboldened. The left, meanwhile, accuses Mendonca of using the investigation to benefit Flavio Bolsonaro.
Political scientist Leandro Consentino described it as a scandal of enormous scale that has created an institutional crisis extremely dangerous for Brazilian democracy.
Constitutional law professor Eloisa Machado warned even more starkly that the crisis was affecting the functioning of the democratic rule of law, calling it a point of no return.
Banco Master has stopped being merely a banking scandal. It has become a crisis that now touches the Supreme Court, the credibility of Brazil's institutions and the outcome of the presidential election itself.
