Bolsonaro and Michelle remain silent in testimony to the PF about jewelry

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and former first lady, Michelle, decided to remain silent in their testimony this Friday morning (31) to the Federal Police about the case of jewelry and gifts given to him during the government. The couple’s defense claims that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) would not have jurisdiction for this investigation.

According to the investigation of Newspaper and the GloboNews, the allegation was made by lawyers to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR). A People’s Gazette tries to contact the ex-president’s defense.

“Considering that the PGR is the final recipient of the evidence of the inquisitorial phase for the formation of the judgment of conviction as to whether or not there are sufficient elements to support a possible criminal action, the petitioners, in the full exercise of their rights and respecting the constitutional guarantees granted to them assured, choose to adopt the prerogative of silence with regard to the facts now ascertained”, they say.

Bolsonaro’s defense says that “it should be noted” that the former president “has already given a formal statement before the competent authorities” in April in another police inquiry, which is being processed by the 6th Federal Criminal Court of Guarulhos.

On the occasion, they say, Bolsonaro provided “all the information requested of him regarding the facts that are the subject of this investigation, not shying away from answering any question”.

“The petitioners choose, as of this moment, not to testify or provide additional statements until they are before a competent natural judge”, says the document signed by the defense. In summary, the defense of the former president defends that the process be referred to the 1st instance of the Judiciary.

Bolsonaro and Michelle arrived at the headquarters of the Federal Police in Brasilia around 10:40 am, with the deposition scheduled for 11:00 am.

In addition to the former president and the former first lady, Bolsonaro’s former assistant, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, were also summoned to give testimony to the PF; his father, reserve general Mauro Lourena Cid; lawyers Frederic Wassef and Fabio Wajngarten and two former Bolsonaro assistants, Marcelo Câmara and Osmar Crivelatti.

Wassef was heard at the PF headquarters in São Paulo. “I am absolutely calm, I have never committed any irregularity or illicit act and I have been the victim of fake news. I never changed my version, I never went back”, he told journalists before his testimony.

The simultaneous hearing of the eight cited was requested by the PF last week to prevent them from talking about the information provided to the authority and combining versions, according to investigation with sources.

They were summoned to provide clarification in the case that investigates the alleged embezzlement of jewelry and gifts received by the former president for sale in the United States, discovered in the investigations that led to Operation Luke 12:2, triggered by the authority almost three weeks ago.

Bolsonaro would also be heard in the inquiry that investigates the alleged spread of fake news in messages sent to businessmen. However, his defense asked Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), for the deposition to be postponed because he did not have access to the file.

The former president would be asked about the extent to which he would participate in the case after the Federal Police found that jewelry and gifts had left the country at the end of last year on an official plane that took him to the United States. Bolsonaro’s defense has denied all irregularities and made his banking secrecy available to the STF after Moraes authorized access to the data.

The lawyers’ allegation is that the gifts were very personal items and, therefore, there would be no irregularities in an alleged sale. The scheme, according to the PF, was supposedly operated by Mauro Cid and his father, Lourena Cid.

Mauro Cid’s testimony is the second only this week and comes from a sequence of hearings, and last Monday (28) he was heard for more than 10 hours by the PF. The content of the statements is confidential.

On the other hand, Michelle Bolsonaro was summoned to testify after having her name mentioned in conversations about an alleged missing gift, referring to the period between the couple’s trip to the US on December 30, 2022 and the rescue operation in March. The disappearance of this gift provoked concerns and efforts to recover it, especially after the jewels seized at the Guarulhos airport gained attention in the media.