Former President Bolsonaro
BRASILIA
The Brazilian police raided the house of former President Jair Bolsonaro (68) yesterday in the framework of an investigation into the alleged falsification of vaccination certificates against Covid-19. The far-right ex-president (2019-2022) denied the accusations and accused the authorities of trying to “manufacture a case” against him.
“There is no adulteration on my part. I did not get vaccinated, period, I never denied that, ”he told reporters in front of his house. “I am really surprised by the search and seizures,” he added.
Bolsonaro, highly questioned about his handling of the pandemic, which has left more than 700,000 dead in Brazil, assured that the police also seized his cell phone and inspected his family’s vaccination records.
The raid was ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who believes there is a “plausible, logical and solid” line of inquiry that suggests the former president may be personally implicated in the alleged irregularities.
The case concerns an alleged “criminal association” suspected of inserting “false vaccination data against Covid-19 into public health systems”, the Federal Police (PF) reported. In this way they sought to “evade” the sanitary restrictions imposed by the Brazilian and US authorities to prevent the spread of the virus.
In the report to the judge, the PF indicates that the former president was entered in the records as if he had received two doses of the immunizer, last August and October.
His wife and 12-year-old daughter, advisers and a federal deputy would also have benefited from these alleged fraudulent registrations, according to the PF.
During his government, Bolsonaro came to joke that those who became immunized could become a “crocodile.”
Defeated in the presidential elections in October, the former president traveled to the US on December 30, two days before the inauguration of the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The US requires international air travelers to present proof of vaccination against the coronavirus, a requirement that will cease to apply on May 11 and that does not apply to foreign government officials.
“In my trips to the US, the vaccination certificate was never required,” Bolsonaro explained to the Jovem Pan network.
A close ally of former US President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro remained in Orlando, Florida, until March 30.
It is unknown how the US authorities handled the stay of the Brazilian leader, after his term ended on January 1.
A US State Department spokesman told reporters yesterday that individual visa records are confidential.
Bolsonaro’s alleged false vaccination data would have been uploaded to the public health system before his trip, and then deleted, according to a police report included in the investigation.
“VERY SERIOUS CORRUPTION”
Police also reported that yesterday’s operation included 16 search warrants, in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, and six arrest warrants.
According to the media, the PF arrested, among others, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s former deputy and considered his right-hand man during the presidency.
“Conspiring against public health is a very serious corruption,” said the Minister of Justice and Security, Flávio Dino.
Bolsonaro was summoned to testify at the PF headquarters, but his lawyers recommended that he remain silent.
“He will go as soon as possible (…) but we need to access the case,” Paulo Cunha Bueno, the former president’s defender, told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.
Since his return to Brazil, Bolsonaro has been interrogated twice by the PF.
On April 5, he had to give a statement for the investigation opened for the irregular entry into Brazil of valuable jewels given by Saudi Arabia in 2021.
And last week, he had to appear as part of another investigation into his alleged role in the riots on January 8, when thousands of his followers invaded the headquarters of the three state powers in Brasilia in an attempt to overthrow Lula, who had assumed seven days before.
In total, Bolsonaro faces four investigations by the Supreme Court that could send him to prison, and 16 cases before the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE).
The latter, which is investigating unproven claims by Bolsonaro of fraud in the electoral system, could strip him of the right to run for the presidency for eight years, sidelining him from the 2026 race.
