Bolsonaro testifies to the PF as being investigated in the jewelry case – 05/04/2023 – Politics

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) testified to the Federal Police this Wednesday afternoon (5) as an investigator in the case of jewelry received from Saudi Arabian authorities.

The information was confirmed by members of the defense of the former president.

About 20 days ago, the PF stated that Bolsonaro was not formally investigated – which is why his lawyers were initially denied access to the case file, which is confidential.

Bolsonaro testified to the PF for about three hours and was heard by two delegates from the corporation.

The hearing was conducted by delegate Adalto Machado, responsible for the investigation at the PF in São Paulo, and another from the DIP (Police Intelligence Directorate), a sector located in the institution’s central building, in Brasília.

Machado has been at the forefront of the case since the initiation of the investigation at the São Paulo PF Police Station for Repression of Tax Crimes.

According to the defense, Bolsonaro claimed to have been aware of the jewelry seized at the Revenue 14 months after the incident.

After learning about it, in December 2022, the then president said he had sought information on the subject to avoid an alleged diplomatic embarrassment if the gifts were to be auctioned.

Bolsonaro confirmed that he had spoken with the then secretary of the Federal Revenue, Julio Cesar Vieira, as shown by the Sheet.

Bolsonaro’s aides in the Presidency, Army Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, also testified.

In addition to Bolsonaro and Cid, other people were heard to advance the investigation into the jewelry received in October 2021 by the entourage led by then Minister Bento Albuquerque.

One of the jewelry cases brought by the team was seized by the Federal Revenue during an inspection at the Guarulhos airport, which is why the investigation was in São Paulo.

A military adviser to the then Minister of Mines and Energy tried to enter the country with luxury items in his backpack. As they had not been declared, the goods were seized by the Federal Revenue – the case was revealed by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.

A second package, which includes a watch, pen, cufflinks, a ring and a type of rosary, all also from the Swiss diamond brand Chopard and later delivered to Bolsonaro, was not intercepted by the Revenue, as shown by the Sheet.

An official receipt recorded the delivery of this second set to the Presidency in November 2022, to compose the former president’s personal collection. The former minister reported in a statement that the second case entered the country with him before being delivered to the Presidency.

On Tuesday (4), Bolsonaro’s defense department delivered a third jewelry kit received from Saudi Arabia to a Caixa Econômica Federal branch. The measure complied with a determination by the TCU (Union Court of Auditors).

Composed of a Rolex watch, cufflinks, a white gold ring, a Chopard pen and a type of rosary, this case was given to Bolsonaro when he visited Saudi Arabia in October 2019. The package became part of his collection private in the following month, as Folha showed.

At first, Bolsonaro said he had neither asked nor received any kind of jewelry gift from the Saudi Arabian government.

On Thursday (30), upon returning to Brazil after 89 days in the United States, Bolsonaro confirmed that he had received the jewelry and linked the gift to the friendship he built with the government of Saudi Arabia.

He also confirmed that part of the gifts were for First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro and the attempt at the end of the term to recover the jewels in Guarulhos.

“We delivered the first set that arrived at the Presidency there. I registered it. And, trying to recover the other set from Michelle, it was via letter, it was not in the big hand. I don’t know why all this wave. If they are thinking of it as something I did wrong, I’m even happy, there’s nothing to accuse me of”, he said.