Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) opened an account with BB Americas, a branch of Banco do Brasil in the United States, in December 2022 and there transferred 75% of all the money in the account, which he declares to the TSE (Supreme Court). had eleitoral) when he submitted his candidacy for reelection last year.
In total, Bolsonaro told the electoral court that he had R$907,000 in two different accounts. In one, the balance was 315.8 thousand BRL, in the second 591 thousand BRL, and in the last 92.57 BRL. According to his lawyers, he transferred US$135,000 to this overseas account, the equivalent of R$675,000.
Wanted lawyer Fabio Wajngarten, who is defending Bolsonaro, reported that the transfer was legal and electronic through the central bank and that it was motivated because Bolsonaro did not trust the economic behavior of President Lula’s government (PT).
At a press conference last week, attorney Paulo Bueno acknowledged the existence of the account and also stated that the operation was legal. “This transfer was made from the President’s account at the Federal Reserve to an account also in the President’s name in the United States. He believes that the current government will not run the economy well. All the money was routed through the central bank. ” he said.
The account was discovered as part of federal police investigations into fraud with Bolsonaro’s and his advisors’ vaccination card. Bolsonaro’s former aide, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, was arrested in Operation Verine on May 3 and suspected of forging vaccination cards for the former president and his own family.