According to media reports, a judge at the Supreme Court in Brazil has ordered that the police important financial documents of the former President Jair Bolsonaro and his wife Michelle can see.
The Federal Police may, based on the approval of Judge Alexandre de Moraes Bank and tax records of the couple investigate in Brazil and moreover Insight into their financial documents in the USA demand, reported Brazilian media on Friday (local time), including the news site “G1”. The Supreme Court and the Federal Police initially did not confirm the reports to the AFP news agency.
Against Bolsonaro and former employees of the right-wing ex-head of state is currently because of the allegations of embezzlement determined. They are said to have tried to illegally keep and sell expensive state gifts from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, for example. According to the authorities, this also included one diamond-set Rolex watch and jewelery by the Swiss luxury company Chopard.
The case of gifts from abroad to Bolsonaro came up in March. At that time, the newspaper “Estado de S. Paulo” reported that high-ranking officials had tried illegally smuggling in jewelry donated by Saudi Arabia.
Bolsonaro denies allegations
The jewelry in question was confiscated by customs in October 2021, including diamonds said to have been intended for the then First Lady. When questioned about the incident, Bolsonaro denied any criminal activity.
According to the Brazilian Court of Accounts, the head of state may only keep gifts “of a very personal nature or of little monetary value” at the end of his term of office.
Bolsonaro again denied the allegations on Friday and assured journalists that he had not received any money for the jewelry. He assured that he wanted to clarify the case “as soon as possible”. Of course, the decision was “uncomfortable, but he has no problem with it,” added the ex-president.
Bolsonaro’s presidency was marked by scandals, including Mismanagement in the Corona Pandemic. Because of his unproven allegations of massive fraud in the country’s electoral system, the right-wing ex-head of state has now been barred from all political offices for eight years.
Storming government quarters has consequences
As part of the investigation into security management during the storm by Bolsonaro supporters on the government district in January, on Friday Police arrested in the capital Brasília, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Evidence gathered during the eight-month investigation showed “omission” on the part of federal district military police authorities, prosecutors said.
There is evidence that leading officials received various intelligence reports prior to Jan. 8 pointing to “coup intentions” and the “imminent threat of an invasion” of the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court, the statement said.
In October, Bolsonaro narrowly lost to his left-leaning challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a runoff election. His Bolsonaro has not yet acknowledged the election defeat.
Supporters of the president-elect stormed the government district in Brasília on January 8, a week after Lula’s inauguration, wreaking havoc in the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court. The riots were reminiscent of the storming of the Capitol in Washington by supporters of US President Donald Trump two years earlier.