Bolsonaro denies having asked for or received jewelry as a gift – 03/04/2023 – Politics

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Saturday (4) that he had neither asked for nor received any kind of jewelry gift from the Saudi Arabian government.

“I am being accused of a gift that I neither asked for nor received. There is no illegality on my part. Brazil.

This Friday (3), the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo revealed that the Bolsonaro government tried to illegally bring to Brazil a set of jewelry and a watch valued at 3 million euros (about R$ 16.5 million ).

The pieces would be a gift from the government of Saudi Arabia to the then first lady Michelle Bolsonaro.

On a social network, Michelle denied being the recipient of the jewelry, but gave no further explanations and joked: “You mean ‘I have all this’ and I didn’t know? My God! appropriateness of this press [sic] vexing,” he posted on Instagram.

The Bolsonaro government tried to recover a set of jewelry and a watch given by the government of Saudi Arabia on the grounds that the objects would be analyzed for incorporation “into the private collection of the President of the Republic or the public collection of the Presidency of the Republic”.

The information is contained in documents published on social networks by the former head of the Special Secretariat for Social Communication in the Bolsonaro administration, Fabio Wajngarten.

The luxury items were in the backpack of a military man, who at the time was an advisor to the then Minister Bento Albuquerque (Mines and Energy). The pieces were seized by the Federal Revenue in October 2021.

The military man responsible for the backpack was part of Albuquerque’s entourage, who was in Riyadh — the capital of the Arab country — from October 22 to 25, 2021, according to his official agenda. During this period, Bolsonaro was in Brazil, where he attended a lunch at the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Brasília on the 25th.

To the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo Bento Albuquerque said that the shipment was a gift for Michelle, but said he did not know the contents of the jewelry case. Later sought by Sheetdenied that his team tried to bring expensive gifts intended for Bolsonaro and Michelle.

In a note this Saturday morning (4), the former minister’s advisory corroborated the Wajngarten documents and said that, in view of the “historical, cultural and artistic” values ​​of the items, the folder adopted measures to forward the collection “to its appropriate legal destiny”.

“These were institutional gifts intended for the Brazilian Representation made up of a Committee from the Ministry of Mines and Energy —therefore, from the Brazilian State; and that, as a result, the Ministry of Mines and Energy would adopt the appropriate measures for the correct and legal forwarding of the collection received”, he said.

The text also denies that the minister has tried to “induce, influence or interfere” in the actions of the Federal Revenue Service at Guarulhos Airport, when his entourage arrived from Saudi Arabia and the luxury items were withheld.

The Federal Revenue’s action at customs was confirmed by Minister Paulo Pimenta, from the Lula government’s Special Secretariat for Social Communication (PT), who published on the social network, still on Friday, photos of the seized luxury items and a document that reports what happened at the customs at the airport in Guarulhos (SP).

Early this Saturday (4), Wajngarten reacted with the publication of documents requesting the release of items for evaluation and possible incorporation into the collection.

One of the acts is dated October 29, 2021, although it was effectively signed on November 3 of the same year. The author is Marcelo da Silva Vieira, assistant chief of staff for Historical Documentation in the personal office of the President of the Republic.

In the text, addressed to the chief of staff of the Minister of Mines and Energy, José Roberto Bueno Júnior, there is a request that the jewels be sent for evaluation.

Another letter, issued by Bento Albuquerque’s office on November 3, 2021, but which did not have Wajngarten’s signature exposed, was sent to the chief of staff of the Special Secretary of the Federal Revenue, Antônio Márcio de Oliveira Aguiar.

The subject of the text was “the release and proper legal destination of gifts retained by this Body, which were offered on the occasion of official events abroad”.

The former secretary also published a document in English, in which Albuquerque communicated to the Saudi Arabian Minister of Energy that the items would be “incorporated into the official Brazilian collection”.

The IRS did not respond to questions from the Sheet. Attorney Frederick Wassef, an advocate for the former president, said he would not comment.

On Friday night, Lula’s Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, said he would call the Federal Police to investigate the case.

“Facts related to jewels, which may constitute the crimes of embezzlement, embezzlement and money laundering, among other possible crimes, will be brought to the Federal Police’s official knowledge for legal measures. Official letter will follow on Monday”, he stated.