Bolsonaro’s advisor issued a certificate without taking a vaccine – 05/15/2023 – Power

Current adviser to former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Max Guilherme Machado de Moura confirmed in a statement to the Federal Police that he had issued his vaccination certificate even though he had not been immunized against Covid.

Max was one of those arrested on May 3 in the Venire operation on suspicion of participating in the fraud scheme by inserting false data into the Ministry of Health’s vaccination system.

Bolsonaro —who was the target of a search—, Max and other detainees are being investigated. The list of detainees includes Mauro Cid and Luis Marcos dos Reis, former Bolsonaro aides; Sergio Cordeiro, Bolsonaro’s security; Ailton Moraes Barros, candidate for state deputy in Rio de Janeiro for the PL in 2022; and João Carlos de Sousa Brecha, secretary of the City Hall of Duque de Caxias (RJ).

Max was heard on the same day of arrest and decided to speak to the PF without the presence of a lawyer. Right at the beginning of his testimony, he said that “he was not vaccinated against Covid, and he does not even know the Municipal Health Center of Duque de Caxias”.

Although he was not vaccinated, data from the Ministry of Health held by the PF show two vaccines allegedly taken by him in Duque de Caxias on the same days as Bolsonaro: the first on August 13 and the second on October 14, 2022.

Asked if he knew about the vaccine records in his name in the system, Max told the PF that “he heard that there was a lot of health data in ConectaSUS, such as licenses and leave, which would have motivated him to enter the application to check what was in your name when you found the vaccination records”.

At that time, he claimed to have printed the certificate for the first time.

Confronted by investigators as to why he had printed the document on December 26, 2022, he preferred not to respond.

Bolsonaro’s advisor, when asked if the purpose of printing was to use the certificate on a trip to the United States the next day —to circumvent health rules—, said that he was not charged for presenting the document upon arrival in the country.

According to him, the carrying of the document was to avoid “specific problems and future questions, since he would not have been vaccinated and that record does not correspond to reality”.

The PF also asked him about a second issue of the certificate, on January 29, 2023. In this case, Max opted for silence and did not respond.

The non-answering stance was also repeated when he was asked about reprinting the certificate on March 8. Max traveled on the 13th of that month to Orlando, Florida, and returned to Brazil on the 30th.

Although he did not respond, he reported that he always carried out Covid tests before travel and denied that the insertions were carried out so that Bolsonaro and his advisors could circumvent health rules in the US and Brazil.

“The various issues of vaccination certificates against Covid-19 demonstrate that Max Moura is fully aware of the fraudulent insertions of vaccination data carried out by the Municipal Secretary of Government of the municipality of Duque de Caxias (RJ), João Brecha, in the system”, said the PF in the request for the arrest of Bolsonaro’s advisor.

According to the PF, the only difference between the alleged fraud in the insertion of Max and Bolsonaro’s vaccination data is that the advisor’s information was not subsequently deleted.

“Like the investigated facts related to Jair Bolsonaro and his daughter Laura, the information elements collected demonstrated logical and temporal coherence from the insertion of false data in the SI-PNI system to the generation of vaccination certificates against Covid-19” , said the PF about Max.

Asked about his relationship with Bolsonaro, Max said that he was a trusted person of the former president and that he had access to the official residence during his government.

According to what was reported, Max attended the Palácio do Alvorada every morning “to have coffee with him and accompany him to the Palácio do Planalto”.

The advisor also said that he “took part in some meetings, such as daily briefings, but not all, and also some external events with the former president”.

For the PF, Max, Bolsonaro, Mauro Cid and the other advisers “have joined forces to achieve a common purpose, namely, the practice of crimes of inserting false vaccination data against Covid-19”.

“Such people were able to issue the respective certificates and use them to circumvent the health restrictions in force, conduct that has the consequence of committing the crime provided for in article 268 of the Penal Code, by infringing the determination of the public authority aimed at preventing the spread of disease contagious, in this case, the Covid-19 pandemic”, said the PF.