Brazil: Bolsonaro Implicated In Scheme To Embezzle Over BRL6.8Mln

By Felipe Pontes

Brazil’s Federal Police have concluded that former president Jair Bolsonaro was involved in the embezzlement or attempted embezzlement of over BRL 6.8 million worth of gifts, including sculptures, jewelry, and watches, received from foreign countries during his term as the country’s president.

According to the report, some of the received jewelry was transported out of Brazil in a suitcase on the presidential plane on December 30, 2022, when Bolsonaro left the country to spend a season in the United States at the end of his term.

The police investigation uncovered a criminal association specifically aimed at embezzling and selling valuables received by Bolsonaro as official gifts.

"It was also found that the proceeds from these sales were converted into cash and added to the personal assets of the former president, using intermediaries and bypassing the formal banking system to conceal the origin, location, and ownership of the funds," the police report states.

Bolsonaro and 11 others were indicted last week for embezzlement, criminal association, and money laundering. The investigation report was delivered in printed form, in an envelope, to the Federal Supreme Court protocol on Friday (Jul. 5).

The confidentiality of the Federal Police report, spanning 476 pages, was lifted on Monday (8) by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court's rapporteur on the case. The judge referred the case to the Attorney General's Office for analysis. The office must now decide whether to file the case or indict the accused. Additionally, the agency may request further evidence collection.

Money

Signed by police chief Fábio Shor, the report concludes that "the evidence in the case file reveals the actions of a criminal association aimed at embezzling high-value gifts received by former President Jair Bolsonaro and/or Brazilian government entourages acting on his behalf during international trips. These gifts, delivered by foreign authorities, were later sold abroad."

According to the document, the "illicit action aimed to divert goods valued at $1,227,725.12 or BRL 6,826,151.66." Some of this money may have been used to fund Bolsonaro's stay in the United States, where he traveled to the day before leaving office and remained for over three months.

The investigations benefited from the cooperation of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro's former aide-de-camp, who signed a plea bargain. They indicate, for instance, the involvement of Mauro Cid's father, Army General Mauro Lorena Cid, who allegedly facilitated the transfer of $68,000 in cash to the former president.

General Cid received the money in his personal bank account following the sale of two watches, a Patek Philippe and a Rolex. At that time, he was employed at the office of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) in Miami.

Other forms of evidence included in the case file were proof of bank withdrawals in Brazil and the US, as well as spreadsheets maintained by aide Marcelo Câmara, who oversaw Bolsonaro's personal accounts.

Here are the gifts under investigation:

First set: Chopard men's items including a pen, a ring, a pair of cufflinks, an Arab rosary ("masbaha"), and a watch received by the then Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, following a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2021;

Second set: A jewelry kit comprising a ring, cufflinks, an Islamic rosary ("masbaha"), and a white gold Rolex watch, gifted to the former president during his official visit to Saudi Arabia in October 2019;

Third set: A sculpture of a golden boat, whose origin has not yet been identified, and a sculpture of a golden palm tree, presented to the former president on November 16, 2021, during his official participation in the Business Seminar of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in Manama, Bahrain.