Jair Bolsonaro has several open fronts with the Brazilian Justice, with accusations that cover a wide range: from falsifying his vaccination card to plotting a coup d’état. This Thursday, one of the cases minors He went up a notch: after more than a year of investigations, the Federal Police accused the president of having tried to misappropriate some very expensive jewels that the Saudi royal family gave to a Brazilian delegation during an official visit to that country in 2021. Bolsonaro was not even on that trip, but he interpreted it as a personal gift and did everything to profit from them, even trying to sell them in the United States. When the scandal broke, he returned them to form part of the public archive of the Presidency.
Despite everything, the Federal Police believes that there is sufficient evidence to charge him with at least three crimes: appropriation of public property, money laundering and criminal association, since he involved several people from his circle of trust, including high-ranking government officials. In addition to Bolsonaro, the agents’ report names 11 other people. The Prosecutor’s Office must decide in the next few days whether to file a formal complaint or ask that the case be closed.
The jewels were Rolex watches, earrings, a kind of Arabic rosary and a spectacular gold and diamond necklace by Chopard. According to estimates by police experts, they were worth around 5 million reals (900,000 dollars), somewhat less than the initial report by the Brazilian press. In any case, the scandal was not so much about the value of the gifts but about the fact that the Brazilian delegation tried to bring them into Brazil without declaring them or paying the corresponding taxes.
The former president’s confidants even tried to auction off some of the jewels in the United States. Finally, when everything came to light, the Court of Accounts of the Union clarified that they were state gifts and that Bolsonaro had to return them immediately, and this happened a few days later. The former president’s allies believe that there is no case because there was no damage to the public treasury and speak of unfounded persecution.
On the list of collaborators in the jewels plot, one name stands out above the rest: that of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid. He was Bolsonaro’s right-hand man during his time as president, the errand boy to whom he entrusted the most delicate bureaucratic tasks. Bolsonaro and Cid are also involved in another scandal, that of the falsification of the vaccination card.
Known as a denialist, Bolsonaro has always publicly boasted of not having been vaccinated against Covid-19, but there are indications that he falsified his vaccination card, as well as that of some of his closest relatives and collaborators, so that they could all enter the United States, thus circumventing the law that required being vaccinated. The police continued to follow the thread and reached the city where, according to the Ministry of Health’s computer system, Bolsonaro was vaccinated: Duque de Caxias, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. This Thursday, the police searched the mansion of the former mayor, a well-known Bolsonarista, and found 200,000 reais in cash (about 34,000 euros). Everything indicates that there was a large scheme of selling counterfeits. Bolsonaro and Cid had already been accused of inserting false data and criminal association a few months ago, but as new information continues to emerge, the agents are now investigating whether the Bolsonaro clan founded this plot or whether they simply took advantage of a mechanism that already existed.
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