Brazil’s Lula sacks deputy intelligence chief amid spying probe

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has sacked the deputy director of the national intelligence agency and four department heads amid ongoing investigations into allegations of illegal spying by the agency, Abin, on ex-president Jair Bolsonaro’s adversaries. 

The accused deputy, Alessandro Moretti, is alleged to have shared information with former Abin chief Alexandre Ramagem, a member of Bolsonaro’s party. 

Bolsonaro says he and his family are being persecuted, which Lula denies, stating that his government does not direct the federal police. 

The scandal emerged when Brazil’s Supreme Court revealed documents accusing Abin of surveilling key political and judicial figures critical of the former president, including three Supreme Court justices and a Congress lower house speaker. 

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes identified Bolsonaro’s son Carlos as part of the suspected “political nucleus” ordering the illegal spying.