Lawyer leaves defense of Cid, suspect in jewelry scheme – 08/13/2023 – Power

Lawyer Bernardo Fenelon left the defense of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, former assistant to former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

Arrested since May 3, the military is being investigated for suspected participation in the scheme of embezzlement and sale of jewelry received by the Presidency and for the alleged adulteration of vaccine certificates.

Fenelon, whose departure was anticipated by the newspaper O Globo, is the second lawyer to defend Cid. Before him, the criminalist Rodrigo Roca, close to the Bolsonaro clan, also left the defense of the former aide-de-camp. At the time, he claimed professional reasons. There is still no information on who will assume Cid’s defense.

The Federal Police operation, which took place on Friday (11), targeted general Mauro Lourena Cid, Mauro Cid’s father, also the target of searches, lawyer Frederick Wassef and advisor Osmar Crivelatti. The focus of the investigation is the diversion and sale of jewelry received by Bolsonaro during the Presidency.

One of the cases occurred on a trip to the United States in June 2022, according to the Federal Police. At the time, still according to the investigation, Mauro Cid separated from the presidential entourage and sold two luxury watches for US$ 68 thousand (R$ 333.7 thousand). The amounts were deposited in his father’s account abroad, General Cid.

On another trip, carried out on December 30, 2022, when Bolsonaro left the country, shortly after losing the elections, jewelry later offered for sale in the United States was also transported.

The PF points out that the resources generated from the sale of goods were passed on to Bolsonaro in cash. Other indications of the former president’s participation are due to the fact that the jewels were taken abroad during presidential trips on Brazilian Air Force planes.

Therefore, the PF asked for the breach of fiscal and banking secrecy of Jair Bolsonaro and former first lady Michelle. The ex-president’s defense stated, after more than 12 hours of silence, that he “never appropriated or embezzled any public property” and that he makes his bank transactions available to the authorities.

In one of the dialogues obtained by the PF and taken to the Supreme Court, Cid talks with another Bolsonaro adviser, Marcelo Câmara, about existing restrictions on the sale of goods abroad.

The Presidency’s documentation office had informed that it was necessary to officially register the donation of the good to the Brazilian government and that the sale abroad would also need to be communicated.

Therefore, Câmara told Cid that he had given up selling a certain good in the United States and that his idea would be to auction it in Brazil later.

“It’s just a pity because we’re talking about 120 thousand dollars. Hahahahha” wrote Mauro Cid, in a message obtained by the PF. In response, Camara says: “The problem is then to justify and where it went”.

Mauro Cid also acted in a secret “rescue operation” to recover a jewelry kit given by Saudi Arabia and try to hide the attempt to sell the gift in the United States, pointed out the Federal Police.

The movements were motivated by the fear of a decision by the TCU (Union Court of Auditors) that would order the former representative to deliver the jewels.

The kit was returned on April 4, but there was no mention that the jewelry was abroad.

“The covert operation allowed, until now, the Brazilian authorities to be unaware that the assets were sold abroad, in breach of legal regulations, with the aim of illicit enrichment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, and subsequently recovered to be returned. to the Brazilian State”, says the Federal Police, in a demonstration to the STF.

The jewels involved in the rescue were part of the so-called “white gold kit”, according to the Federal Police. The set includes: a pair of cufflinks, a ring and a masbaha (Arabic rosary), all made with white gold, as well as a silver Chopard pen with encrusted stones.

There was also a Rolex watch studded with diamonds, which was separated from the kit and sold by Mauro Cid in the United States. The gifts were given to Bolsonaro during an official trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2019.