Sao Paulo, Jan 15 (EFE)
The Court of Accounts, the body that oversees the Brazilian State, gave Bolsonaro a period of five days on Wednesday to deliver to the current government the jewels of the luxurious Swiss brand Chopard that the Saudi authorities gave him in 2021.
There are well-founded suspicions that these jewels entered the country irregularly and without the proper declaration to the Treasury, and that they should also be part of the national public heritage and not be in the possession of the retired Army captain.
In the midst of all the controversy, the former president has been in the United States since December 30 in a kind of “self-exile” that he intends to end this March with his return to Brazil, something that he has not confirmed.
The Court of Accounts also today ordered the former ruler to hand over a rifle and a pistol that he received from the United Arab Emirates in 2019 and ordered an audit of all the gifts he received during the four years of his government (2019-2022).
In parallel, the Federal Police has begun a cycle of interrogations on what is now known as the “Saudi jewelery scandal”, which are divided into two packages.
Gold and diamonds, the jewels for Bolsonaro
The first package, the one that Bolsonaro is now obliged to return, managed to enter the country and consists of a watch, a pen and gold cufflinks, valued at around $75,000.
The other is made up of a necklace, a ring, a watch and diamond earrings, also from Chopard, valued at 3.2 million dollars.
The recipient of those spectacular pieces was, apparently, Bolsonaro’s wife, Michelle, who is trying to get her head into politics hand in hand with her husband’s party.
But that package did not circumvent customs controls and was retained by the Treasury at the Guarulhos international airport, in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo, where they continued this Wednesday, according to EFE.
To access them you have to go through a maze of corridors and rooms until you reach a storage room with stainless steel tables.
There is the blue Chopard case, which even has its own key.
They did not declare the jewels
Inside, the jewels that customs officials found in the backpack of a military man, advisor to the then Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, who was part of the Brazilian delegation that traveled to the Middle East at the time, shine.
In Brazil, it is mandatory to declare all assets worth more than $1,000, which apparently was not the case with either of the two sets of Saudi jewelry.
Bolsonaro tried several times, through emissaries, to release the jewels before the end of his term on January 1, but was unsuccessful. The last attempt was on December 29.
The scandal was uncovered by the newspaper ‘O Estado de Sao Paulo’ on March 3.
The interrogations begin
Since then, the Federal Police, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court of Accounts have been looking for answers to all this mess that threatens to further damage the already worn image of the former president and that of his wife, seen in some political circles as a possible successor.
The now ex-minister Albuquerque has been one of the first to declare to the Federal Police. He did it this Tuesday by videoconference.
According to the newspaper ‘O Estado de Sao Paulo’, he stated that he was unaware of the content of the gifts and that he thought that their destination was the Republic’s heritage.
This version contrasts with that maintained by Bolsonaro’s lawyers and one of his sons, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who maintain that they were present of a “very personal” nature and that, therefore, they should remain in the hands of the former head of state.
The matter has no sign of ending. The Court of Accounts ordered last week that Bolsonaro, who has denied “any illegality”, will also have to testify before the Police, which has not yet been confirmed.
Carlos Meneses