Bolsonaro testifies about fraud in his vaccination card – 05/16/2023 – Politics

Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) arrived at around 1:30 pm this Tuesday (16) at the headquarters of the Federal Police, in Brasília, to give testimony as part of the investigation into fraud in vaccination cards in the Ministry of Health system.

This is the third time he has provided clarification to police authorities this year. The first hearing was on April 5, regarding the case of jewelry received from Saudi Arabian authorities, and the second on April 26, regarding the coup attacks on January 8.

In early May, as part of the investigation into vaccine cards, the PF carried out a search and seizure operation at Bolsonaro’s home in Brasília and arrested three of his main assistants: Mauro Cid, Max Guilherme and Sergio Cordeiro.

The former aide-de-camp Cid, despite not being officially part of the team of advisers to which Bolsonaro is entitled as a former president, is considered his right-hand man due to his loyalty and closeness.

Last week, lawyer Rodrigo Roca left Cid’s defense and was replaced by Bernardo Fenelon, who has publications on plea bargaining.

Even so, Bolsonaro’s allies demonstrate confidence that Cid will not collaborate. The expectation is that he admits guilt in the scheme of inserting fraudulent data on vaccination.

According to the Federal Police, the targets of the investigation are suspected of inserting false information into the Health system between November 2021 and December 2022. The objective was for beneficiaries to be able to issue a vaccination certificate to travel to the United States.

On Monday (15), two Bolsonaro lawyers, Daniel Tesser and Paulo Cunha Bueno, landed in Brasília, accompanied by the former head of Secom (Special Secretariat for Social Communication) Fábio Wajngarten. They acted in preparing Bolsonaro for the statement and should accompany him to the meeting with the PF investigators.

According to interlocutors, the main thesis of the defense will be to deny any relationship with the adulteration of Bolsonaro’s vaccine card.

In addition to alleging anti-vaccine ideological issues, which allies claim to have “cost” his re-election, Bolsonaro must reinforce that he was not aware of fraud. He must also say that he did not access and print his vaccine card.

Bolsonaro himself said, on the day of the operation, that he was not vaccinated.

“I didn’t take the vaccine. I was never asked for a vaccine card [para entrar nos EUA]. There is no tampering on my part. I didn’t get the vaccine, period. I never denied it. There were people who pressured me to take it, naturally. But I didn’t take it, because I read the Pfizer leaflet”, said the former president.

Covid vaccines, like Pfizer’s, are safe and have been proven effective in scientific studies. More than 6 billion doses have been applied worldwide.

Another point raised by Bolsonaro’s defense is the fact that the then president was not at the Palácio do Planalto on the days when his vaccine card was accessed in the SUS system through an IP address of the Presidency of the Republic.

On the last 3rd, the former Chief Executive was summoned to testify during a search and seizure warrant carried out at his residence in Brasília. The defense said at the time that he would not go and that he was waiting for access to the records before rescheduling the deposition.

The rapporteur of the case at the STF (Federal Supreme Court), Minister Alexandre de Moraes, authorized access to the file days after the operation. As of Monday (8), Bolsonaro’s lawyers took turns reading the pages of the inquiry.