Task force gave signs that Bolsonaro would keep jewelry – 03/08/2023 – Bruno Boghossian

Bringing a millionaire package of jewels to Brazil without notifying the authorities was just the first infraction by Jair Bolsonaro’s team. The former president and his allies managed to complicate themselves further by pretending that the story of the Saudi gifts was a minor bureaucratic problem.

Bolsonarists have made the defense of the former president more difficult since the items were seized in 2021. Auxiliaries wanted to recover the jewels by irregular means, tried to circumvent the restrictions of the law and spread mismatched versions about those present.

Bolsonaro’s team repeatedly gave signs that it did not intend to treat the package as an official gift and destine it to the public collection, as determined by law and the Federal Court of Auditors. The first evidence already appeared at the airport, when Minister Bento Albuquerque tried to get a wallet and said that the jewels were for the first lady.

From then on, a task force to release the gift involved advisors to the president, the military and the top of the IRS. Pressure was put on the servers responsible for the seizure. They did not give in because the government insisted on maintaining the possibility of including the jewels in Bolsonaro’s private collection.

The attack made at the end of the government’s lights reinforces the suspicion. Two days before the end of his term, a Navy sergeant went to the airport to urgently pick up the gift – which would only be the case if the then president was interested in taking the diamonds home.

Bolsonaro himself curled up when explaining the story. First, he stated that he had not asked for the gift, but he neglected to say that he had another valuable case delivered on the same trip.

Afterwards, the ex-president’s lawyer claimed that the diamonds were a private gift. It was not the case. Current rules state that items given by foreign governments are not for personal use. With the excuse, however, the defense practically admitted that Bolsonaro would keep the jewels of R$ 16.5 million.

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