The Brazilian Federal Police suspects collaborators of Jair Bolsonaro of having resold gifts received from foreign countries, in particular jewels, for the “illicit enrichment” of the ex-president of the extreme right, learned Friday 11 August Agence France-Presse from a judicial source.

Mr. Bolsonaro’s defense categorically denied any wrongdoing. The former president “never appropriated or misappropriated any public good,” his lawyers told the G1 news site.

Elements of the police investigation were published in a judgment by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes to justify search warrants carried out on Friday at the homes of former aides of Mr. Bolsonaro. “The evidence collected showed [the existence], during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, of a network to divert goods of a high amount which were offered to him”, can we read in this judgment of the magistrate . “Beyond allowing an inadmissible enrichment of the President of the Republic (…), it is possible that the Brazilian head of state was co-opted by foreign nations through these assets”, believe the investigators.

They also report goods placed in “a suitcase carried on the presidential plane on December 30”, when Mr. Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States two days before the inauguration of his left-wing successor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated him in the October presidential election.

Among these state gifts, two sculptures, one in the shape of a boat and another in the shape of palm trees, offered by the government of Bahrain during a state visit in 2021, as well as male jewelry offered by Saudi Saudi Arabia, including a watch and a fountain pen from the Swiss luxury brand Chopard.

Diamond set

One of the people suspected of reselling these gifts is Mauro Cid, former aide-de-camp to Jair Bolsonaro, who has been in prison since May. He was arrested in connection with another case, for alleged falsification of vaccination certificates against Covid-19. According to the investigators, Mauro Cid mentioned in an audio message “25,000 dollars in cash” which would be intended for the ex-president after the sale of certain goods.

The scandal of gifts from foreign countries to Jair Bolsonaro erupted in March, when the Estadao de S. Paulo newspaper revealed that senior officials had tried to smuggle in jewelry given by Saudi Arabia, without declaring it to the prior. The jewelry in question, including a diamond set believed to be for first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, was seized by customs in October 2021. But investigators report evidence that many other state gifts were misappropriated .

According to Brazil’s Court of Auditors, only gifts “of a highly personal nature or of minimal monetary value” can be kept by the head of state at the end of his term. In April, Mr. Bolsonaro was heard by the Federal Police in connection with the Saudi jewelry case, and had denied any wrongdoing.

In June, Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to eight years of ineligibility for “abuse of power”, due to “false” information he disseminated about the electronic voting system before his defeat in the 2022 ballot.