Lula government must transfer Bolsonaro’s jewels to the Union – 03/10/2023 – Mônica Bergamo

The Lula government must transfer to public property the jewels that were sent as a gift to Jair Bolsonaro (PL) by the government of Saudi Arabia.

They are now in the former president’s private collection. With the decision of the current government, they must be cataloged as belonging to the Union.

Lula’s team is already internally studying the measures that should be taken to make the transfer possible.

According to members of the government, one of the possibilities would be to change the classification of luxurious treats so that they pass from Bolsonaro’s personal collection to the collection of the Presidency of the Republic.

The government is already raising all the documentation that involved the case to then formalize the change.

Thus, Bolsonaro would once and for all lose any dominion and possession over the millionaires present.

The former president has already been banned by the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) from selling or using the jewelry.

The court is investigating how they entered the country and whether Bolsonaro broke legal rules and the principle of morality by accepting them and including them in his personal collection. The tendency of ministers is to vote for the former president to return the jewels.

A measure by the Lula government would sanction the transfer even before the court takes that decision, but without preventing any irregularities from continuing under investigation.

Bolsonaro himself is being advised to return the luxury items voluntarily, to avoid the embarrassment of being forced to do so.

Receiving expensive gifts has already been previously analyzed by the TCU.

A ruling approved this year by the ministers of the Court recommended that authorities who traveled with Bolsonaro to Qatar in 2019 return Cartier and Hublot watches, whose prices range from R$30,000 to R$100,000. The pieces were delivered to the travelers by authorities in the Arab country.

The TCU stated, at the time, that “the receipt of gifts for personal use with high commercial value” by members of a diplomatic mission “exceeds the limits of reasonableness” and is “in disagreement with the principle of public morality”, leaving the delivery of the good to the Union.

What goes for Bolsonaro’s former ministers, therefore, would also be worth for the former president.

The jewels were sent to the country in two boxes, carried by the team of the then Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque, in October 2021.

One of them, with a pair of earrings, a ring, a necklace and a watch, made with precious stones, were intended for the then First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro, according to the former minister. The set would be worth R$ 16 million.

The other package, which includes a watch, pen, cufflinks, a ring and a type of rosary, all from the Swiss diamond brand Chopard, was not intercepted by the IRS.

On November 29th, practically a month before the end of his term, it was delivered to the Planalto Palace and, according to the former president, incorporated into its collection.

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