Former Federal Revenue Secretary was fired by Bolsonaro a month after withholding jewelry

Resignation

José Barroso Tostes Neto was a career Federal Revenue server. The agency’s auditors did not give in to pressure to release the materials.

Former Federal Revenue Secretary, José Barroso Toste, was exonerated by former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), one month after former Mines and Energy Minister, Bento Albuquerque, along with his advisor Marcos André Soeiro, tried to illegally enter the country with jewelry coming from Saudi Arabia.

Tostes’ resignation was made official in the Official Gazette (DOU) on December 7, 2021. Until that moment, according to Estadão, four attempts had been made by the management of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government to recover the jewels.

According to Albuquerque, the pieces would be a gift for former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro. José Tostes was highly regarded by members of the Internal Revenue Service for also being a retired career civil servant. He, however, wore himself out with members of the Bolsonaro family after resisting appointing Dagoberto da Silva Lemos to the body’s Internal Affairs. Lemos was nominated by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ).

Paulo Guedes, then Minister of Economy, even offered Tostes a position at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in Paris. The former Revenue Secretary, however, did not take on the role.

Step by step

The first of the four moments in which there was pressure for the jewels to be released occurred when the Brazilian entourage arrived in Saudi Arabia. Bento Albuquerque and Marco André Soeiro landed at Guarulhos Airport, in São Paulo, on October 26, 2021. Soeiro had his luggage searched, and the Revenue auditors then found a horse-shaped sculpture and a case with the aforementioned jewelry, with certificate of authenticity from the Chopard brand.

Despite having in his suitcase goods totaling R$ 16.5 million in estimated value, the advisor marked “nothing to declare”. The attempt to leave the airport, however, was frustrated due to the search made by the auditors after the luggage passed through the X-ray.

Bento Albuquerque tried, upon learning of the apprehension, to return and present himself as a representative of the Brazilian government at the Middle East Green Initiative event, an agenda in which he participated in Saudi Arabia. According to the then minister, it was on that occasion that the gifts were delivered.

There was, however, the option of declaring the items as gifts from one government to the other. The alternative would release the pieces, which would be considered property of the Brazilian State. The declaration, however, was not completed by Bento Albuquerque, and the gifts continued to be held in Guarulhos.

In a third moment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was activated in an attempt to recover the goods. On November 3, 2021, the agency asked the Revenue Service for the “necessary measures” for release.

“Considering the specific condition of the minister – representative of the President of the Republic; the impossibility of refusing or immediately returning gifts due to current circumstances; and the historical, cultural and artistic values ​​of the offered goods; it is necessary and essential that the collection be given the appropriate legal destination”, argued an appeal from the Itamaraty.

The Revenue’s response, however, remained the same: the release would be made with the discharge of taxes and fines due.

On the same day, Bento Albuquerque’s office also requested the release of the jewels, with the argument that they would be added to a collection, without specifying which one. After the dismissal of José Tostes, Julio Cesar Vieira Gomes was appointed to the position. He even put pressure on the São Paulo Superintendence for the release, which did not happen.

* With information from the Metrópoles website

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