“Jair Bolsonaro’s testimony was dead calm after answering all inquiries. It was an excellent opportunity to get the facts straight,” said Fabio Wajngarten, former communications minister in the Bolsonaro government and current adviser to the former president (2019-2019). 2022).
Federal police and the Brazilian tax authority are investigating the case, the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo revealed in March.
According to the newspaper, in October 2021, customs inspectors seized a $3.2 million set of diamond jewelry in a backpack belonging to the entourage of the Minister of Mines and Energy, who was returning from an official trip to the Middle East.
Government officials then made several attempts to declassify the pieces, most recently a day before the end of Bolsonaro’s term.
It then revealed the existence of two other sets of jewelry, estimated by the press at $100,000 and $75,000 respectively, which did not form part of the presidential legacy following Bolsonaro’s resignation from power, although these types of gifts constitute public heritage to the State Audit Office (TCU ).
Bolsonaro spent almost three hours at the police headquarters in the central region of Brasilia and withdrew without commenting to the press.
A source close to Bolsonaro told AFP that the former president denied committing a crime to investigators, saying he only became aware of the confiscated jewels in December 2022. The source requested anonymity as he was not authorized to speak.
He also explained that the subsequent effort to have her released was in an attempt to avoid “diplomatic trouble” as the precious jewels, a state gift from Saudi Arabia, could potentially be auctioned off.
The police have not commented on the ex-president’s statement as part of the investigation, which is being processed under summary reservations.
Brazilian law stipulates that officials can only keep gifts that are “very personal and of minimal monetary value,” according to the TCU.
By order of the court, Bolsonaro returned the two boxes of jewelry and two firearms that he had received from the United Arab Emirates in 2019.
According to Justice Minister Flavio Dino, the case may constitute a crime of embezzlement (appropriation of public assets) or taxes, as private assets are recorded without proper declaration and payment of taxes.
It was the first time Bolsonaro appeared before police as a former president, almost a week after he returned to the country from Orlando, US.