RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Supreme Court (STF) justice Cármen Lúcia ordered the dismissal of a petition to investigate for Justice and Public Security Minister Sérgio Moro for allegedly having had access to the Federal Police’s confidential inquiry into Operation Spoofing, which is inspecting the hacking of a number of officials’ cell phones.
Cármen Lúcia granted the petition to dismiss made by Federal Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge who saw no evidence that Moro had breached the confidentiality of the investigation.
This investigation had been called for by PT president Gleisi Hoffmann, deputy Paulo Pimenta, and senator Humberto Costa. The legislators have accused Moro of the crimes of misuse of authority, breach of duty of confidentiality, and suppression of documents.
The leftists’ motivation was based on the release of a note by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) stating that Moro had made contact with João Otávio de Noronha, presiding judge of the court, to notify him that his cell phone had been hacked and that the messages in question would be destroyed.
The Federal Prosecutor General, however, said that the federal police denied that Moro has had access to the investigation and that it sees no evidence of misconduct on the Justice Minister’s part.
“There is no evidence that the minister [Moro] has gained access to the content of the illegally collected data — information protected by confidentiality, nor that he has disclosed this content to third parties.”
“Apparently, only certain public officials have been briefed to the effect that they have also been victims of the crime under investigation,” Raquel Dodge said in an opinion sent this week to the STF.