Gifts from Saudi Arabia were in the luggage of an advisor to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, who did not declare the pieces
The MPF (Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office) requested this Monday (6.Mar.2023) that the Federal Revenue forward all available information on the entry of jewelry that was allegedly presented by Saudi Arabia to former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro.
In October 2021, the items were seized by the Federal Revenue Service when they arrived in the country at São Paulo International Airport, in Guarulhos (SP). The jewels were in the luggage of an advisor to the then Minister Bento Albuquerque (Mines and Energy).
The Federal Revenue activated the MPF last Friday (3.Mar.2023), after the newspaper The State of São Paulo report the case.
The MP informed that the procedure remains confidential and that it will analyze and decide on the referral after the Federal Revenue presents all the information.
Earlier, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, ordered the Federal Police to investigate suspicions of attempts to illegally enter the country with jewelry. In the letter to the director general of the PF, delegate Andrei Augusto Passos Rodrigues, the minister states that, “the way they present themselves”, the facts disclosed by the press “may constitute crimes against the Public Administration”.
The jewels are valued at approximately R$ 16.5 million. They were in the luggage of an advisor to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, who did not make the declaration and, therefore, ended up being seized. The pieces could have entered the country without paying taxes since they were declared as gifts to the State and would remain in permanent possession of the Union, but this declaration was not made either.
All goods for personal use brought from abroad, whose value exceeds the quota of US$ 1,000 (at the 2021 exchange rate, approximately R$ 5,500), must be declared to the Federal Revenue and are subject to taxation.
After the disclosure of the case, former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro made a post on her Instagram account to comment on the matter. “I have all this and I didn’t know? My God!”, he wrote. Former President Jair Bolsonaro, on the other hand, denied any illegality. A CNNBolsonaro said that the jewels would go to the collection of the Presidency of the Republic.
With information from Brazil Agency.
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