By Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Supreme Court Justice Flavio Dino ordered Brazil's federal police chief be immediately reinstated on Wednesday, a day after his firing, stepping squarely into a power struggle that has exposed rare public divisions on Brazil's highest court.
Dino's ruling reverses Tuesday's decision by his colleague, Justice Andre Mendonca, who had ordered the removal of federal police chief Andrei Rodrigues and his intelligence chief over allegations they helped produce intelligence reports intended to monitor Mendonca and other authorities.
According to a court document seen on Wednesday, Dino said the firings were unsupported by evidence and had a direct impact on ongoing investigations, citing an "equally real and immediate" risk of harm.
Mendonca's firing of Rodrigues had been backed by the majority of a five-member court panel but challenged by the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Dino was Lula's former justice minister — and Rodrigues' boss — before Lula tapped him for the court.
The firings were the latest chapter in an unfolding clash between Mendonca and another justice, Alexandre de Moraes, who accused Mendonca last week of abusing his authority when Mendonca made public material from an investigation into alleged fraud at the now liquidated Banco Master. The material exposed dozens of messages from the bank's disgraced president to Moraes, prompting calls for an unprecedented investigation into a sitting Supreme Court justice.
The clash between the justices has thrust the court into its biggest crisis since Brazil's return to democracy over four decades ago, just weeks before Brazilians elect a new president and most of Congress.
GROWING UNCERTAINTY
While Dino's decision takes immediate effect, it will be submitted to the full Supreme Court for final confirmation. But in a rare move, Chief Justice Edson Fachin canceled the court's planned session on Wednesday.
Brazil's institutions are being roiled by the widening investigations into Banco Master and alleged ties between the bank's president Daniel Vorcaro and top government officials.
The court crisis has injected new uncertainty into the country's tightly contested presidential race between leftist Lula and leading right-wing opponent Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as Bolsonaro's supporters attempt to conflate Moraes and the corruption case with the leftist president, whose lead over the senator has all but been eliminated in polling.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Lula referred to the Banco Master case as the "greatest financial crime in Brazil's history" and said "the Brazilian people need explanations and immediate measures to confront the institutional crisis that has taken hold of the judiciary."
Campaigning in the city where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, survived a stabbing attack eight years ago, Flavio Bolsonaro on Wednesday blamed Lula for the escalating crisis.
"Brazil is without a president, Brazil is without leadership. Everything that is happening is chaos left behind by Lula," he said.
Brazilian markets rallied on Tuesday as traders pointed to two polls showing Bolsonaro and Lula statistically tied in a potential runoff ahead of the election.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Brendan O'Bolye and Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Gareth Jones and Nia Williams)
