Brazil Top Court Suspends Federal Police Chief’s Nomination
Brazil Top Court Suspends Nomination of Federal Police Chief
(Bloomberg) -- A Supreme Court justice stopped President Jair Bolsonaro from nominating a close ally as top police chief in the latest blow to the Brazilian leader.
Alexandre Ramagem, a friend of the Bolsonaro family, was set to take office on Wednesday after the president fired the previous police chief last week. The episode prompted the justice minister to resign in protest, accusing Bolsonaro of trying to interfere with police investigations.
In his decision, Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled that there was sufficient concern of “irreparable damage” in allowing Ramagem to take the post. “The federal police is not an intelligence agency of the Presidency,” he wrote.
Moraes referenced an earlier ruling by the court determining that former Justice Minister Sergio Moro’s accusations against Bolsonaro merit a formal probe that could potentially lead to president’s removal from office. Moro had made his claims during his exit speech Friday, when he said Bolsonaro was replacing the police chief without cause. The federal police is carrying out a number of investigations that could potentially implicate the president’s family.
The court’s decision is an additional setback for Bolsonaro, who’s now struggling with a political crisis just as the number of coronavirus-related deaths climb to more than 5,000 in the country. The resignation of his popular justice minister, considered by many Brazilians as a hero for taking down a network of corrupt politicians and business leaders during the so-called Carswash probe, has tainted the president’s anti-coruption credentials, although it hasn’t had a big impact on his popularity yet.
Following the court’s ruling, Bolsonaro withdrew the nomination in a decree published at the official gazette, but later said he still hopes Ramagem will eventually become police chief.
“I am certain that soon this dream will become reality for the good of the federal police and our Brazil,” he said during a speech at the swearing in ceremony of the new justice minister, Andre Mendonca.
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