Another package with Saudi jewels was delivered to the Presidency, says newspaper

One of the gifts from the government of Saudi Arabia to Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, was delivered in November 2022 to compose the personal collection of the then president. The report is from a report published this Sunday (5) by “Folha de S.Paulo”, which said it had obtained a receipt for the delivery. Contrary to what happened with another package of jewelry presented by the Saudis, this one was not intercepted by the Federal Revenue Service.

According to the text, the receipt indicates that a box was delivered to the Adjunct Cabinet of Historical Documentation (GADH) containing items “destined to the President of the Republic Jair Messias Bolsonaro”. That package, says the report, contained “a watch, pen, cuff links, a ring and a type of rosary, all from the Swiss diamond brand Chopard” and “was in the luggage of one of the members of the entourage and was not intercepted by the Revenue”.

The package was forwarded to GADH on November 29, 2022 by Antônio Carlos Ramos de Barros Mello, special advisor to the Ministry of Mines and Energy. According to the report, Mello reported that the items were under the custody of the folder.

Seized package had R$ 16.5 million in jewelry

Another package presented by Saudi Arabia was with Marcos André dos Santos Soeiro, advisor to the then Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, and was seized by the Federal Revenue at Guarulhos International Airport on October 26, 2021, when a delegation from the ministry arrived from the Middle East.

In the seized package there was a set of jewelry estimated at R$ 16.5 million, which the government later tried to recover, without success. Revenue did not want to release the gift without payment of the respective tax (of 50% of the amount) plus a fine (of 50% or 25%, if paid within 30 days).

The case was revealed on Friday night (3) by the newspaper “O Estado de S. Paulo”. In an interview recorded for the newspaper, Albuquerque said that the gifts were in fact in two packages, one of which remained with his advisor Soeiro.

“At the end of the trip, I was going to the airport, an envoy from the Saudi Arabian government arrived there and handed over two boxes. Two packages. These packages were distributed in the suitcases. And one stayed with Marcos Soeiro and the other, I don’t know with what member of the entourage. But none of us knew what those boxes were”, said the then Minister of Mines and Energy.

According to him, the boxes were opened only in Guarulhos, during the Federal Revenue approach, after the luggage went through the x-ray equipment.

“The jewel wasn’t for President Bolsonaro, you know, it should have been for the first lady. And the watch and those things that we saw afterwards should have been for the president. There were two packages that arrived together,” said Albuquerque.

The former minister said he went to Saudi Arabia representing the Brazilian government and the president, who had been invited to an event in the area of ​​energy attended by some heads of state.

What Bolsonaro, his former Communications Secretary and the Federal Revenue say

Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Saturday (4) that he is being “crucified” for a gift he neither asked for nor received, and that he did not commit any illegality. “I was in Brazil when this gift was offered there in the United Arab Emirates to the Minister of Mines and Energy. His adviser brought it on a airliner and stayed at customs, I didn’t find out,” said Bolsonaro.

In publications on Twitter, the former head of the Special Secretariat for Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic, Fabio Wajngarten, stated that the entire process of entering the jewels was documented and that the documents prove that the gifts would be sent to the presidential collection.

However, the Federal Revenue said that the government did not prove public ownership of the jewels, even after guidance and clarifications provided to government bodies, then headed by Jair Bolsonaro. “If there is no such regularization, the good is treated as belonging to the bearer and, if there is no payment of the tax and fine, the penalty of forfeiture is applied, with appeals whose term, in this case, ended in July 2022”, states the note.