Receipt shows another package of jewelry for the Bolsonaro government – 05/03/2023 – Politics

One of the alleged gifts sent by the government of Saudi Arabia through former Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque was delivered to compose the personal collection of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in November last year, shows an official receipt.

According to the former minister and documents, more than one package was delivered by the Saudi government on the occasion of the Brazilian mission that was in the Middle Eastern country in October 2021.

One of them, a set of jewelry and a watch valued at R$16.5 million that would have been for former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, was retained by the Revenue at the airport in Guarulhos (SP) as soon as Albuquerque and his team arrived in Brazil. The case was revealed by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo on Friday (3).

Another package, which includes a watch, pen, cufflinks, a ring and a type of rosary, all from the Swiss diamond brand Chopard and supposedly destined for Bolsonaro, was in the luggage of one of the members of the entourage and was not intercepted by the Revenue. There is no public estimate or assessment of values ​​for this other batch of jewels.

On the last November 29th, practically a month before Bolsonaro’s term ends, the special advisor to the Ministry of Mines and Energy Antônio Carlos Ramos de Barros Mello delivered the items to the Planalto Palace. In Mello’s version, they were under the custody of the folder.

“I forward to the Adjunct Office of Historical Documentation —GADH a box containing the following items destined for the President of the Republic Jair Messias Bolsonaro”, says an excerpt from the delivery receipt to which the Sheet had access. Sought, the Presidency did not respond.

This Saturday (4), after an event in the United States, Bolsonaro said that he neither asked for nor received any kind of jewelry gift from the Saudi Arabian government.

“I am now being crucified in Brazil for a gift that I did not receive. I saw in some newspapers maliciously saying that I tried to bring illegal jewelry to Brazil. There is no such thing,” he said.

According to him, the Presidency notified the customs. “So far so good, nothing much, in my opinion, the customs could have delivered it. It would go to the collection, it would be handed over to the first lady. And what does the legislation say? She could use it, she couldn’t dispose of it . That’s all, nothing more.”

Contacted by the report, former special advisor Antônio Carlos Mello said that he personally delivered it to the sector in charge of the presidential collection in Planalto.

He stated that the ministry informed the Revenue and Presidency and asked for guidance as soon as the alleged gifts were received in the folder.

According to Mello, there were a series of negotiations to define what would be the destination of the material, which would have made the delivery occur more than a year after receipt.

“Was delivered [ao Planalto em novembro de 2022] because it took a long time in this process to say who will receive who will not, where they will stay where they will not stay. I just couldn’t stay in the ministry or anyone use it,” said the former special advisor to the ministry.

He also added: “What was apprehended was apprehended, even saying that they were institutional gifts. A part of the Revenue decided to apprehend. I will not discuss. It is a problem that does not fit us. And the rest that came [para o ministério] was delivered and received by the Presidency”.

The Bolsonaro administration tried to retrieve the set of jewelry and a watch retained by the Federal Revenue Service under the allegation that the objects would be analyzed for incorporation “to the private collection of the President of the Republic or to the public collection of the Presidency of the Republic”.

The information is contained in documents published on social networks by the former head of the Special Secretariat for Social Communication in the Bolsonaro administration, Fabio Wajngarten.

On a social network, Michelle denied being the recipient of the jewelry, but gave no further explanations and joked: “You mean ‘I have all this’ and I didn’t know? My God! You guys are really going to go far, huh?! I’m laughing”.

In a note this Saturday, the advice of former minister Bento Albuquerque corroborated Wajngarten’s documents and said that, given the “historical, cultural and artistic” values ​​of the items, the folder adopted measures to forward the collection “to its proper legal destination” .

“These were institutional gifts intended for the Brazilian Representation made up of a Committee from the Ministry of Mines and Energy —therefore, from the Brazilian State; and that, as a result, the Ministry of Mines and Energy would adopt the appropriate measures for the correct and legal forwarding of the collection received”, he said.