Supreme Court Suspends Alexandre Ramagem’s Appointment as Federal Police Chief

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Alexandre de Moraes, a Justice of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), on Wednesday suspended the appointment of Alexandre Ramagem, who was the head of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) and former chief of Bolsonaro’s campaign security force, to the command of the Federal Police (PF).

Ramagem was appointed by the President to replace Mauricio Valeixo, who was dismissed without the approval of the then Minister of Justice Sérgio Moro, who also resigned last Friday, accusing President Jair Bolsonaro of wanting to interfere in the Federal Police.

Ramagem is close to the Bolsonaro family and features in a photo, circulating on social media, standing next to Carlos, the president’s son, who is the subject of an investigation by the agency.

Bolsonaro has not given up on the appointment.

“I respect the judiciary, I respect its decisions, but we certainly respect our Constitution. Mr. Ramagem, who would take office today, was prevented from doing so by a monocratic decision taken by an STF justice,” he said during the inauguration ceremony of André Luiz de Almeida Mendonça as Minister of Justice in place of Sérgio Moro, and José Levi, who is taking over as Solicitor General of Brazil. “I am sure that this dream of mine will soon materialize,” stressed the President.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ decision granted an injunction sought by the Democratic Labor Party (PDT), which alleges “flagrant abuse of power, in the form of misuse of purpose” in Ramagem’s appointment.

According to Moraes, it is the duty of the Supreme Court to act when the Executive makes “decisions devoid of factual justification” and “arbitrary” both in “legality, morality and impersonality”.

“In theory, the occurrence of misuse of purpose of the presidential act to appoint the director of the Federal Police, in violation of constitutional principles of impersonality, morality and public interest is feasible,” he said in the decision.

At the head of ABIN since July 2019, Ramagem was dismissed from office on Tuesday and would take over as the new Director General of the Federal Police on Wednesday at 3 PM. For this reason, Moraes asked that the detective, as well as the Solicitor General be advised of his decision “also by Whatsapp,” in view of the urgency.

In the early afternoon, the Bolsonaro government cancelled the appointment, with the publication of its suspension in an extra edition of the Federal Gazette.

Sérgio Moro’s allegations

Moraes stressed in his decision the press conference given by Sérgio Moro last Friday, who, when justifying his departure from the Ministry of Justice, claimed that he had been told by the President of the Republic that he wanted to place someone with whom he could have contact in the Federal Police.

“The President told me more than once that he wanted to have someone from his personal contacts [in the Federal Police], that he could call, gather intelligence reports. It’s not really the role of the Federal Police to provide this kind of information,” the ex-Minister of Justice said at the press conference. Ramagem’s name was already circulating behind the scenes as Valeixo’s replacement.

“These allegations were confirmed, on the very same day, by the President of the Republic himself, also during a press conference, when he stated that he would need “a daily report of what happened, particularly in the last twenty-four hours, due to lack of information from the Federal Police,” Moraes wrote in his decision.

According to the Justice, “these events, coupled with the fact that the Federal Police is not an intelligence [gathering] body of the Presidency of the Republic,” but rather performs the duties of Brazil’s judicial police with exclusivity, “including in a number of secret investigations,” demonstrate that “the necessary requirements are present for the granting of the injunction petitioned”.

Moraes’ decision is a second blow against Bolsonaro in the Supreme Court after Moro’s departure. On Monday, Justice Celso de Mello, dean of the Court, granted a request from Augusto Aras, the Federal Prosecutor General, to investigate Moro’s charges against Bolsonaro. The former judge of Lava Jato cases will be required to testify.

In Brasília, there is talk behind the scenes that Maurício Valeixo’s dismissal evidences a desire to interfere with ongoing investigations into Bolsonaro’s sons, particularly at the Federal Supreme Court and the Rio de Janeiro State Prosecutor’s Office.

The Court is investigating Carlos Bolsonaro for spreading fake news. The Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the alleged kickback scheme of staff salaries by Flávio Bolsonaro’s office when he was a state deputy.

This is not the first time that a single STF Justice has barred federal cabinet appointments. The most famous occurred in March 2016, when Justice Gilmar Mendes prevented the appointment of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, under investigation by Lava Jato, to become the Chief of Staff in the President Dilma Rousseff government.

Moreover, in 2017, during the Michel Temer government, Justice Celso de Mello denied the appointment of Wellington Moreira Franco, also investigated by Lava Jato, as Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency.

A year later, Justice Cármen Lúcia prevented Roberto Jefferson’s daughter, Deputy Cristiane Brasil, from taking over the Ministry of Labor. The injunction had been requested by a group of attorneys, claiming that the deputy “had personally committed severe violations of labor laws, detected and evidenced in at least two judicial proceedings”.

Source: El País