Bolsonaro’s defense says it will deliver 3rd jewelry kit – 03/31/2023 – Politics

The defense of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) informed the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União) that he will deliver to Caixa Econômica Federal a third set of jewels kept in the private collection of the Presidency in 2019.

The letter was sent to the court this Thursday (30). The lawyers argued, however, that these goods were not the object of the representation of the TCU that investigates the situation of the gifts received on the occasion of the visit of the presidential delegation to Saudi Arabia in October 2021.

In addition, they stated that the “delay” in the effective delivery of the goods took place, “despite the way in which the press vehicles chose to report, solely due to the bureaucracy of this court”.

“Unfortunately, the decision on the appropriate place for the deposit, as well as the dispatch of letters and steps to effect the safe and transparent delivery of the goods, took longer than expected”, says the document, signed by the office of lawyer Paulo Amador by Cunha Bueno.

The lawyers claim that the situation ended up contributing “even more” to the delay and “generated in the media and public opinion the impression of refusal on the part of the petitioner to collaborate with a delivery that he himself initially requested”.

They also expressed “indignation with the way in which the situation was handled in the last decision of the TCU, since the list of the former president’s private collection will be audited by the court”.

“Therefore, it is inappropriate to treat the question as if there were some malicious attempt on the part of the petitioner to conceal certain assets of this Court and any other body.”

Finally, Bolsonaro’s lawyers asked the TCU to check whether there are any other items that they believe should be deposited “to avoid confusion, stir or any kind of doubt regarding the suitability and real intention of the petitioner to collaborate with the clarification as quickly as possible regarding the legal status of the assets under review”.

On Wednesday (29), minister Augusto Nardes, rapporteur for the case at the TCU, sent an alert to the former president so that, if there are other gifts received from the government of Saudi Arabia, they must be returned immediately, under penalty of sanction. in case of non-compliance.

In his decision, Nardes highlighted that the TCU had already determined the delivery of all items received as gifts during the visit of the presidential delegation to Saudi Arabia.

The measure was taken after a group of parliamentarians informed the court that another set of jewels was directly delivered to the then president, who ordered the objects to be kept in the private collection of the Presidency in 2019 and received in his office in 2022.

Bolsonaro received a first set of luxury items from Saudi Arabia in 2019, during a trip to that country. The material entered the presidential collection on November 11 of that year, according to Folha.

This kit contained a watch, cufflinks, a ring, a pen and some kind of rosary. According to the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, the estimated value of the set is more than R$ 500 thousand.

On March 24, Bolsonaro’s lawyers delivered to Caixa Econômica Federal in Brasília the set of men’s jewelry that he received as a gift from Saudi Arabia in 2021. The kit includes a watch, pen, cufflinks, a ring and a type of rosary, all from the brand Chopard Diamond Switzerland.

In addition to these gifts, a set of jewelry allegedly intended for former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro was seized at the international airport in Guarulhos (SP) in October 2021. The luxury items were with an advisor to Albuquerque, who tried to enter the country without declare them to the IRS.