Minister Edson Fachin defends the end of the fake news investigation and opens proceedings on the actions of Alexandre de Moraes

Last Friday (4), the president of the Court, minister Edson Fachin, defended the end of the fake news inquiry, led by minister Alexandre de Moraes.

The inquiry was opened in 2019 with the aim of investigating attacks on the STF and its members, and has been successively extended, which has led to it being criticized by legal experts.

In this Sunday's publication (6), Flávio Dino did not mention the inquiry directly, but said: "Is it possible for a judge, whoever he is, to promise the end of an inquiry as if he were a candidate or to receive applause?"

"I personally am in favor of concluding the investigations, especially because they were meant to end, through the filing of criminal actions or appropriate filings," said the minister.

And he continued: "In any case, we have an interesting doctrinal debate: before the statute of limitations, should an investigation be closed due to a long process? And who decides what a 'long process' is? Personal opinions? Or legal and regulatory criteria?"

Last Tuesday (1st), Minister André Mendonça made public a Federal Police report produced by his order, which is the rapporteur of the investigations into Banco Master.

In this work, the PF recovered 52 messages sent by the banker to minister Alexandre de Moraes from Daniel Vorcaro's cell phone.

In the messages, Vorcaro discussed meetings with Moraes, asking for information, guidance and also his intervention in the Federal Police and the Attorney General's Office. In one of them, two days before being arrested, the banker asked if he should already be out of the country.

Also last Tuesday, the Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, questioned the legality of the production of the report on Moraes by decision of a single minister and asked for the investigation to be annulled.

Moraes questioned his colleague's role in the investigation and made the request within the fake news investigation, of which he is the rapporteur.

On Friday, Fachin withdrew the request from the fake news inquiry and opened a separate procedure in the office of the Presidency of the Court.

He stated that the Supreme Court's response to the crisis involves three measures: the approval of a code of ethics, the end of the fake news investigation and the modernization of the Justice system.

Fachin also asked those involved for information to decide the next steps and gave until Friday (11) to receive the information he requested from Moraes, Mendonça, the Attorney General's Office and the Federal Police.

It will also be up to him to define when and how the STF Plenary will be called to speak, and whether the session will be open or closed.

In the case of the request to open an investigation into the actions of Alexandre de Moraes, minister André Mendonça approved this Sunday (6) for the case to be included on the Plenary agenda. The decision on when he will be judged rests with Edson Fachin.