Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has strongly denied any interference on the part of the judiciary, after he was accused by Justice Minister Sergio Moro who announced his resignation amid a sensation.
The accusations made by the former judge, who is very popular in charge of fighting corruption, have sparked sharp political reactions, and even prominent figures have considered them sufficient reason to dismiss the president.
The far-right president responded to these accusations by asserting that "baseless", in a speech before a group of ministers who stood behind him without protective masks, except for the economy minister, at the height of the spread of the new Corona virus.
The president said the resigned minister "only cares about himself and does not care about Brazil", and looks forward to "a seat in the Supreme Court."
This is the second resignation that shakes the Bolsonaro government in eight days after the departure of Health Minister Luiz Enrique Mandita, who is also very popular and supports imposing isolation measures, unlike the president.
His grave is dug with his hand,
and the resignation of the Minister of Justice came after months of tension with the President, who had promised him upon his appointment to release his hand.
Sergio Morro left the government when Bolsonaro sacked one of his most trusted, federal police chief Mauricio Vallejo.
Moro detonated a bomb by confirming upon his resignation that the president wanted to replace Vallejo "someone with a personal relationship with whom he can contact to obtain information about the investigations" under way.
However, Bolsonaro confirmed that Morrow had agreed to his dismissal, but not before November after he confirmed his appointment as the Supreme Court president, and Morrow denied this in a Tweet on Twitter.
Jayer Bolsonaro confirmed that he “never asked for information about any ongoing investigation,” but admitted that he had interfered several times with federal police files, especially with regard to the investigation into the appeal process he was subjected to in September 2018.
"Did he ask to know who wanted to kill Jair Bolsonaro?" He asked. He expressed regret that investigators "attach more importance" to the investigation into the assassination of former left-wing adviser Mariel Franco last March.
On Saturday evening, Bolsonaro appointed a new commander of the federal police, Alexander Ramagem, the current director of Brazilian intelligence.
Despite the president's denial, the attorney general announced on Friday that an investigation had been opened into the charges made by Morrow.
| The resigned justice minister is very popular, and his resignation led to the decline of the stock exchange and the fall of the local currency (Reuters) |
Former moderate right-wing president Fernando Enrique Cardoso (1995-2002) responded sharply on Twitter. "The president is digging his grave with his hand," he wrote. "To submit his resignation before his dismissal takes place. Let us, as long as we are due to Corona, exempt us from the lengthy dismissal procedures."
As for the Governor of São Paulo João Doria, he wrote, "Our country must fight two viruses, a corona and another virus that sits in the Palalto Palace".
Rising discount for the 2022 elections.
The resignation sparked concern in the markets, as the São Paulo Stock Exchange fell 5.4%, while the exchange rate of the riyal fell to 5.66 per dollar.
Analysts fear the government will lose a third major minister, Economy Minister Paolo Guedes, whose relations with President Bolsonaro have deteriorated.
According to Silvio Costa - who is the founder of the "Congreso am Foco" site that deals with parliament - that the resignation of Sergio Moro could constitute a severe blow to Bolsonaro's popularity and "at the same time push" to the fore "his opponent for the presidential elections in 2022.
But the president nevertheless preferred the risk "to protect himself" by trying to appoint a trusted man to the post of chief of the federal police conducting investigations that are close to him, including Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who is accused of embezzlement of funds through fake jobs while he was a deputy in the Parliament of Rio de Janeiro.