Brazil: Police Seek Access to Bolsonaro Financial Records

Facts

• Brazilian news outlet O Globo reported that the Federal Police has asked the Supreme Court to grant access to former Pres. Jair Bolsonaro's private banking and tax records as part of a probe into the alleged attempted sale of gifts he received while in office.¹
• The right-wing leader, who was ruled ineligible to run for office until 2030 and faces several other lawsuits, has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers stated that he would authorize access to his banking records.²
• This comes as the former Brazilian president was accused Friday of having received proceeds from the $68K sale of two luxury watches, a Rolex and a Patek Philippe, gifted by the government of Saudi Arabia in 2019.³
• His former aide, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, allegedly sold them to a store in the US in June 2022, with his lawyer, Frederick Wassef, repurchasing the Rolex in March this year after authorities requested Bolsonaro return two sets of jewelry gifts.⁴
• While Cid has been in jail since May in connection with a separate probe into allegations he forged vaccine records, his father and Wassef were served search warrants at their addresses on Friday. Police seized devices and data storage media.⁵
• Retired Gen. Mauro Lorena Cid, who was working in the Miami office of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, has been implicated as he sent photos of jewelry boxes containing gold sculptures of a boat and a tree to his son.⁶

Sources: ¹Bloomberg, ²France 24, ³Associated Press, ⁴Washington Post, ⁵Reuters, and ⁶The Brazilian Report.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by Peoples Dispatch. On top of his usual attacks on the Brazilian democratic institutions, including inflaming his supporters to storm key government buildings to try to remove President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from power in January, Bolsonaro has also engaged in a multi-million dollar smuggling, embezzlement, and money laundering scheme. Either he and his allies deliberately failed to declare to customs that the gifts were private to avoid paying taxes, or they sold government resources for their own personal advantage.
• Right narrative, as provided by Wall Street Journal. You don't have to be a Bolsonaro supporter to see that Lula is using the judicial system as a means to punish his predecessor. Lula is a leftist career politician who was convicted on corruption charges before they were stunningly reversed by activist judges. Right-leaning figures across the nation are being censored, and checks and balances are being curtailed as the legal system is increasingly used as a weapon against opponents. We ought to be skeptical about charges against Bolsonaro in this environment.