Resignation of Brazilian justice minister casts shadow over Bolsonaro presidency

Brazil's justice minister, Sergio Moro, announced that he was resigning on Friday, citing direct interference by President Jair Bolsonaro (pictured) in certain investigations conducted by the federal police. 

Moro tendered his resignation just hours after the country's official gazette reported the dismissal of federal police chief Mauricio Valeixo, who was considered to be a confidant of Moro. 

"The president told me more than once that he wanted to have a person of his personal confidence [in the federal police], who he could call, collect intelligence reports. It really isn't the role of the federal police to provide this kind of information. The independence of investigations has to be preserved," Moro said during a televised speech. 

Moro added that past federal governments, even under the left-wing PT workers party, whose leaders were subjected to multiple investigations and accusations, refrained from interfering in the operations of the federal police. 

"Today we see someone who has no commitment to Brazil. I only have the Brazilian people on my side. No one denies that Sergio Moro did brilliant work on Lava Jato. I gave Moro autonomy, but not sovereignty. I always warned that I would decide key positions [in the government],” Bolsonaro said in televised comments.

“I accepted Sergio Moro's views on Valeixo. Since the beginning, it has been said that I've hindered anti-corruption operations, but there's less corruption in my administration, so there are fewer operations by the federal police at present. I have a lot of support from congressmen,” he added.

Bolsonaro claimed that, under Moro, the federal police did not make further investigations into a knife attack on him during the 2018 election campaign. he also said that Moro asked that he be named a supreme court judge. In Brazil, the sitting president is able to name supreme court judges when existing judges retire.

Political observers suggest that Bolsonaro's statements indicate that his administration is trying to get closer to centrist parties in order to avoid him from being impeached and to guarantee governability, despite that fact that, during his election campaign, Bolsonaro himself launched strong criticism of political arrangements between political parties.

The departure of Moro and his allegations of Bolsonaro's interference in the police is a major problem for the president, in both political and legal terms. 

The mainstay of Bolsonaro's campaign discourse in the 2018 election was combating corruption and putting an end to political interference in justice, so the resignation of the minister is likely to erode backing for the president, even among his hardcore base of supporters. 

A right wing and anti-corruption movement called Vem Pra Rua, or 'take to the streets,' which organized a series of massive street demonstrations in support of the Lava Jato investigation, used its official social media account to lash out at Bolsonaro, calling for protests against him. 

Moro is very popular among Brazilians and also has support from right-wing forces, because he oversaw the first trials of the Lava Jato cases before he became minister. 

In 2018, Moro sentenced former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to 12 years and one month in jail for receiving 3.7mn reais (US$650,000) in illegal payments from local engineering company OAS. 

With that sentence, Lula was barred from running as the PT candidate in the 2018 election, with the party instead nominating Fernando Haddad.

RISK OF IMPEACHMENT? 

Moro's allegations against Bolsonaro's police interference, in tandem with the president's fragile political support, has increased the chances of him being impeached. 

In Brazil, impeachment is considered a process that involves legal and political elements. Any Brazilian can file an impeachment request in the lower house of congress using legal arguments, but the decision on whether or not to accept an such a request and allow it to proceed is the responsibility of the head of the lower house, Rodrigo Maia. 

Even before the resignation of Moro, there had been multiple impeachment requests against Bolsonaro, most filed by citizens in recent months, alleging wrongdoings by the president regarding his lack of urgency in addressing the effects of the health crisis generated by the coronavirus. 

On Thursday, prior to Moro's resignation, supreme court judge Cello de Mello ordered Maia to issue an official opinion on one of the impeachment requests within the next two weeks. 

If Maia accedes, the process would require the support of 342 of the 513 lawmakers to advance to the senate, where it would also require a two-thirds majority for approval.

Since the end of the dictatorship in Brazil in 1985, there have been five presidents elected via popular votes, with two of them, Fernando Collor and Dilma Rousseff, forced out by impeachment processes. 

The impact of Moro's resignation on the future of the Brazilian government meant that local media turned their attention away from the coronavirus crisis to political coverage, which has piqued the fears of investors. The Brazilian real declined to an all-time low against the US dollar, while the main local stock market index, Ibovespa, was down more than 7% in mid-Friday trading.