The Brazilian press revealed at the beginning of March that in October 2021, Jair Bolsonaro, then President of Brazil, had sought to bring into the country sumptuous jewels offered by the Saudi crown prince and this, without declaration to customs.
Admittedly, Jair Bolsonaro has not moved from his place of voluntary exile in Florida since his arrival on December 30, two days before the transfer of power from his successor to the presidency of Brazil, Lula. But he does not leave the politico-judicial news of his country.
Already continued for his hypothetical role in the coup attempt led on January 8 by his supporters against the institutions in Brasilia, the former chief executive faces a new suspicion, as the correspondent of the Monde. The national press accuses him of having tried to bring back to Brazil sumptuous jewels intended for him – as well as for his wife – Mohamed ben Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia. And this, behind the backs of the customs officers. Then, the attempt having failed, to have put pressure (still in vain) on them to recover the gift.
Worse still, observers and actors in Brazilian public life wonder if Saudi generosity has not influenced the nation’s economic and foreign policy.
The seized jewelry
Such is, in a few lines, the tenor of the case revealed March 3 by the newspaper state. However, it dates back to October 2021.
The Minister of Mines and Energy – also an admiral in the Brazilian fleet -, Bento Albuquerque, was then sent to Riyadh to represent Brazil at the “Green Middle East” summit, the vast program of which was to publicize the measures ecological displayed by the kingdom.
The Admiral returns on October 26, to Garulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo. He carries in his bag a box filled with diamonds. There are a pair of earrings, a necklace, a ring. Lack of luck for the fraudster: the customs officers get their hands on the whole thing. This poses an immediate problem since any property brought back from abroad whose value is greater than 1000 dollars (or 930 euros) must be declared upstream. It would therefore have been necessary to declare the box. And for good reason: it amounts to three million euros, reports The world. The jewelry, branded Chopard, is therefore seized.
The objective of this desire for dissimulation is obvious. It was for Jair Bolsonaro to avoid paying half the value of the product in customs duties, or having to entrust it to the Public Treasury.
Recovery attempts
In any case, the probity of the customs officers aroused the ire of the man who was still president of Brazil at the time. His envoys even traveled to the airport several times over the following months – until three days before the expiration of his mandate – to soften them and recover the grisbi. These refuse.
Jair Bolsonaro, on the other hand, was in possession of a (small) consolation prize, as the Brazilian press also discovered. He had other jewels, valued this time at 70,000 euros, and which had meanwhile passed to the ace. In front of the media bronca, and the legal threats, he finally returned them.
Moving from suspicion to certainty
This restitution does not extinguish the action of justice. The federal police, the Court of Auditors, and the prosecution took over the file. Jair Bolsonaro is even targeted by two separate investigations, specify here TF1. Parliamentarians are pushing for the opening of a commission of inquiry.
In Brazil, we are also skeptical about the disinterestedness of such gifts from the Saudi dynasty. Especially given the cordiality of Jair Bolsonaro with regard to Mohamed Ben Salmane while the latter was cornered on the international scene because of the human rights violations committed by the monarchy and the murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi.
Doubt feeds on more tangible elements. The tripling of imports from Saudi Arabia between 2019 and 2022 – which reached 5 billion euros – and the sale at a derisory price by Petrobras of a refinery to an investment fund in Dubai, an emirate close to Saudi Arabia and not just geographically. So many transactions that can weigh down the eyes of the prince’s gifts, and give them the air of backchich. The worldwhich listed these agreements, quotes a senior official familiar with the matter: “Three million euros is a totally unusual amount for a gift between heads of state”.
It is now up to the courts to remove suspicions to identify certain certainties.
