Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court authorized police to lift former President Jair Bolsonaro’s banking and tax secrecy in its investigation into the appropriation and sale of jewelery he received while in office.
The decision was made Thursday evening by magistrate Alexandre de Moraes and extends to the former president’s wife, Michelle Bolsonaro.
The Brazilian authorities are trying to unravel a conspiracy surrounding a series of jewels and objects of great value that the Brazilian head of state, when he was still in power, received as a gift during his travels abroad and that he had to legally deliver to his state treasury when he left office.
However, research shows that Bolsonaro kept several of these luxuries and, through intermediaries, sold some of them in the United States, although some of his associates later bought them back when the state demanded their return.
The judge’s decision comes in response to a request from the federal police, which wants to investigate the accounts of Bolsonaro and his wife for suspicious transactions and ultimately find out whether the money obtained from the sale of these jewels belongs to the former head of state. has achieved. , which denies any form of wrongdoing.
The judge also gave the go-ahead for federal law enforcement to ask the United States to lift banking secrecy for those under investigation who hold accounts in that country.
In these investigations, Bolsonaro’s former adviser, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, announced through his lawyer on Thursday a change in his defense’s strategy, saying he will point directly at the former president as the main plotter.
Lawyer Cezar Bitencourt told the local press that his client will confess to the police that he sold the jewelery Bolsonaro received in the United States during several official trips, that he transferred the money to Brazil and that he himself paid it in cash. Bolsonaro has handed over.
The lawyer told Veja magazine that Mauro Cid would assume the facts, but that he was carrying out “direct orders from the then president of the republic, who would be the leader” of the plan.
These orders include selling the jewelry he received as a gift abroad and sending the money obtained to Bolsonaro, according to Bitencourt, who cites the sale of two luxury watches, a Rolex and a Patek Philippe, as an example.
Mauro Cid’s confession could further complicate Bolsonaro’s already delicate legal situation, which is being investigated in several civil and criminal cases, including the January 8 coup attempt, when thousands of radicals seized the offices of the presidency, congress and invaded the Federal Supreme Court in an attempt to overthrow Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office on January 1.
Mauro Cid’s statements come after a “hacker” said in a statement to a parliamentary committee that Bolsonaro sought his services to try to hack electronic voting systems.
Walter Delgatti, known for eavesdropping on authorities and other crimes, said Bolsonaro asked him to invade the Superior Electoral Court system and even promised him a pardon if he had problems with justice.
Source: DN
