Brazil's Supreme Court on Tuesday began examining one of its top justice's ties to a jailed banker, in an unprecedented crisis that has eclipsed the country's presidential election campaign.
Alexandre de Moraes, considered one of the most powerful figures in Brazil, led the coup trial which convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro in 2025, and is now in the spotlight in the crisis linked to a fraud case which has rattled the corridors of power.
The 57-year-old justice was present for the plenary session which was being broadcast live on television and YouTube.
Court president Edson Fachin said the 10 justices had the duty of guiding the institution "through a difficult period in its history."
"The country looks to this court. History, too, will look upon this moment," he said, urging justices to "maintain balance" and distinguish "legal controversy from personal dispute."
The crisis facing Brazil's highest court is one of many erupting from a scandal around a once little-known banker whose arrest last year for fraud has unveiled a web of questionable ties that has ensnared judges, lawmakers and even right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro.
Daniel Vorcaro was charged with fraud after the collapse of his private bank Banco Master.
The probe has triggered an unprecedented feud in the Supreme Court, which is overseeing the police investigation.
On one side is Moraes, the bete noire of the Bolsonaro clan who was briefly sanctioned by US President Donald Trump's administration over the trial against Jair Bolsonaro.
On the other is justice Andre Mendonca, who was appointed by the former far-right leader.
Two weeks ago, Mendonca unsealed a police report linked to the Vorcaro investigation.
It revealed messages sent by Vorcaro to a number attributed to Moraes, in which the banker sought the justice's help in the fraud investigation against him.
Fachin called Tuesday's session to examine the validity of the police report and potentially decide whether to open an investigation into Moraes.
Outside the court, a group of protesters chanted "Moraes, get out!"
Early Tuesday, Moraes asked Fachin to annul the proceedings, saying they had been "deliberately steered" by Mendonca to frame him for "political and electoral purposes."
"This plenary session is more important than the World Cup final," Sostenes Cavalcante, leader of Bolsonaro's Liberal Party leader in the Chamber of Deputies, said Monday.
The crisis has dominated the campaign ahead of October 4 elections, expected to be a knife-edge race between leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who is one of Jair Bolsonaro's sons.
Lula has called for transparency so that those responsible are held accountable.
Moraes has become a near-constant presence in Brazil's headlines in recent years, at the center of one major political or judicial battle after another, many of which have angered conservatives.
"The current president shared his power with Alexandre de Moraes. And in the end, Brazil was left without any president," Flavio said in a video on Tuesday.
On Monday, the senator overtook Lula for the first time in an opinion poll of voting intentions by the firm Quaest, which showed him at 42 percent against 40 percent for Lula in a runoff.
The senator and eldest son of the former far-right president, is under investigation for suspected corruption and money laundering regarding the financing of a film about his father, bankrolled by Vorcaro.
What this scandal lays bare "is a political system based on the exchange of favors and influence," Mayara Horta, a 34-year-old environmental scientist and leftist activist, told AFP in Rio.
"We need to unseal all investigation documents. Let's see just how far the influence of these bankers reaches."
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