The Federal Police of Brazil executed a search and seizure warrant yesterday morning at the home of Jair Bolsonaro, in Brasília, in connection with a case of alleged covid-19 vaccination card fraud. In the same operation, the agents arrested six people, including Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, an aide in charge of resolving personal matters for Brazil’s former president. Bolsonaro, from the Liberal Party (PL), was even called to testify, but refused, opting to give an interview to defend himself.
The operation, called Venire, refers to the Latin phrase Venire contra factum propriummeaning “contradictory conduct” in legal parlance, is included in the broader digital militia investigation, which investigates the existence of a criminal organization attempting to attack Brazilian democracy.
According to the police Those investigated are suspected of falsifying vaccination certificates for Bolsonaro, his 12-year-old daughter Laura, Cid, his wife and daughter against Covid-19 to circumvent health restrictions in place in Brazil and the United States and guarantee access to the North American country for all, on December 29, 2022, on the eve of Lula da Silva’s inauguration as president.
However, in the National Health Data Network system, two doses of Pfizer were applied to Bolsonaro, the first on August 13, 2022 at the Duque de Caxias Municipal Health Center, in Rio de Janeiro, and the second on October 14. , 2022 in the same health facility. The data was entered on December 21, still from last year, but a week later, on December 27, the information was removed from the system under the allegation of “mistake”.
In addition to Cid, who testified at the conclusion of this edition, four more members of the armed forces from the circle of the former president and municipal secretary of the government of Duque de Caxias, João Carlos de Sousa Brecha, were arrested. . Bolsonarist deputies and mayors, doctors and civil servants, like Bolsonaro, were only targets of house searches.
However, Cid is also the subject of an investigation in the Federal Supreme Court on suspicion of involvement in an alleged hacker attack on the Superior Electoral Court system and was heard in the recent case of Saudi jewelry presented to the Brazilian state that Bolsonaro will have appropriated.
Bolsonaro responded to journalists at the door of his home, guaranteeing there was no falsification of vaccine records on his part. “No vaccination card was asked for anywhere, it was not tampered with on my part, I did not take the vaccine, period, I have never denied it”he claimed.
“What can I tell you? I didn’t get the vaccine. A personal decision of mine […]. My wife’s vaccination card was also photographed, she got the vaccine in the United States, from Janssen. And the other one, my 12-year-old daughter, didn’t take the vaccine either, she has a medical report on that.”
He refused to testify before police and spent most of the afternoon at the headquarters of his party, the PL.
ex-president cries
Later, in an interview with the program Pânico, on TV station Jovem Pan, Bolsonaro gave new details. “I said I hadn’t taken the vaccine, especially after I read what I call “the Pfizer flyer,” they found my wife Michelle’s vaccination card, they took a picture of the vaccination card, she was vaccinated in 2021, in the United States, he took the vaccine from Janssen and felt sick on his way back to Brazil, last year he had another crisis and the doctor said it was because of the vaccine”.
“It’s a huge pressure, 24 hours a day, because before I take on the presidency, I get emotional because messing around is no problem, but when it comes to wife and children, it’s inhumane,” he said in tears. “As for fraud, for my part it is zero, the times I traveled around the world, once I went to Italy, if I am not mistaken, I asked if the vaccine was necessary, they said yes, I said” if yes , I do not travel “then came the official answer that the vaccine was provided, the treatment for the head of state is different from ordinary citizens, in my travels to the United States, the vaccination card was never required”.
According to Bolsonaro, Daughter Laura was also not vaccinated for fear of the president for the side effects of the vaccine against the corona virus. “My daughter currently has a medical clearance and is exempt from taking the vaccine.”
Bolsonaro, on the other hand, said he was treated well by the officers who entered his home at 6 a.m. local time. “I was treated very well, there was no exaggeration, a louder voice, I felt the embarrassment of some police officers, I asked the reason for the operation, they spoke and I replied that the house was clearly available”.
“Then I asked permission to call the lawyer and I called, they searched the house, looked for documents, social networks and took my phone”. According to Bolsonaro, one of his pistols was also initially seized by officers, but was later returned.
Government approves operation
However, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, and the Vice President, Geraldo Alckmin, defended the police investigation against the former president. “If there is a violation of a health standard, if there is a crime of forgery, if there is a criminal association, the so-called digital embezzlement, it is written in the Penal Code, the Federal Police always do their job because that is what society expects and this is the orientation of President Lula”said the minister during a public ceremony.
“What is needed is an investigation, what society expects, there will be an investigation, correct? I think the most important thing is that there will be an investigation and the issues will be clarified,” the vice president added on another event.
Source: DN
