SAO PAULO, Brazil—Brazilian lawmakers are set to call the head of the country's intelligence agency to Congress to explain allegations that a Brazilian spy was quietly transferred after being discovered improperly passing intelligence information to a U.S. official, according to a statement by the Congressional Foreign Relations Commission.
The statement late Tuesday said the commission expects to hold a vote Wednesday to call the head of Brazil's Abin spy agency, Roberto Trezza, in for a hearing on the matter.
"More surprising than the discovery of an Abin agent having passed information to U.S. agents, was the decision…to ignore evidence and opt to transfer the agent," Representative Nelson Pellegrino, who is president of the commission, said in the statement.
The planned hearing deepens an ongoing controversy over U.S. spying here. Earlier this year, documents leaked by the former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden appeared to show that the U.S. was gathering information on Brazilian leaders, including tracking President Dilma Rousseff's communications patterns with other officials. As a result, Ms. Rousseff cancelled a planned visit to the U.S., and Brazilian officials have said spying has cast a shadow over the countries' relations.
In a twist, Brazil also admitted this week that it too had spied on foreign diplomats in Brazil.
Brazil's O Estado newspaper reported Oct. 27 that a Brazilian agent passed information to a U.S. agent who was seeking information about activities along Brazil's remote border with Paraguay and Argentina. The so-called triple frontier is a contraband corridor that has been scrutinized as a potential hub for terrorist financing.
According to the newspaper, the Brazilian agent was uncovered by Brazilian counter intelligence last year. The paper said the alleged U.S. counterpart was attached to the U.S. Embassy in Brazil, until being transferred out of Brazil last year.
U.S. Embassy officials in Brazil didn't immediately return messages seeking comment