A target of the PF (Federal Police) operation that investigates the insertion of false data in vaccination cards, former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) already accumulates at least 25 ongoing investigations.
The former president is the target of actions in the Electoral Justice and the STF (Federal Supreme Court), besides pending investigation requests in the 1st instance.
April was marked with two depositions made to the Federal Police by the former president.
The first, on April 5, investigated the receipt of jewelry from the Saudi Arabian government.
The 2nd was held on April 26 and dealt with the extremist acts of January 8.
Poder360 listed the primary investigations against the former president.
Here are the main ones:
- Digital Militias
Bolsonaro was again the target of Justice this Wednesday (May 3, 2023) after the Federal Police searched his residence in Jardim Botânico, in Brasília.
The new investigation investigates the insertion of false data on vaccination cards against covid-19 approved in the systems of the Ministry of Health.
The case is part of the investigation of digital militias that runs at the STF under the reporting of the minister Alexandre de Moraes.
It investigates whether the former president tampered with his vaccination card and his daughter Laura, 12, before they left for the United States in December 2022.
The US required proof of immunization against covid for entry into the country, but Bolsonaro says he had never been vaccinated.
Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, was also arrested and taken to PF headquarters.
Another 14 people were targeted in the operation, including aides and security guards of the former president, in Rio de Janeiro and in the federal capital.
In all, 6 people were arrested.
When leaving home in Brasilia after the operation, the former president again denied that he had been vaccinated against Covid.
He said he had never been required to present proof of immunization when traveling abroad, including when going to the US.
He said he had requested a diplomatic visa, given on a special basis to heads of state and authorities, and arrived before he left the presidency on December 30.
- January 8
In April, Bolsonaro was included in the investigation that investigated the intellectual authors of the January 8 invasion and gave a statement to the Federal Police about a publication released on social networks in which, without evidence, he put in doubt the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
Moraes answered the subpoena request submitted by the PGR (Prosecutor General’s Office), which said Bolsonaro “allegedly incited the perpetration of crimes against the rule of law” in a January 10 publication.
On that date, Bolsonaro shared on his Facebook profile a video that said Lula “was not elected, but rather chosen by Justices of the STF and TSE [Superior Electoral Court].”
At the time, the former president said he was under the effect of medication and that the publication was made by mistake.
In the period, according to the defense of the former head of the Executive, Bolsonaro was admitted to the hospital in Orlando, US, to treat a “new adhesion” related to the stabbing he suffered in 2018.
- Jewelry case
The former president is also investigated for the case of jewelry received by the government of Saudi Arabia.
Members of his government would have tried to bring jewelry to Brazil without declaring it to the IRS.
A report in the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo revealed on March 3 that the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro allegedly tried to bring jewelry to Brazil without declaring it to the IRS.
The pieces, valued at US$3.31 million, were supposed to be a gift from the Saudi government to then-first lady Michelle Bolsonaro.
The former president testified for 3 hours about the episode at the headquarters of the Federal Police in Brasilia (DF) on April 5.
The corporation held simultaneous hearings with those involved in the investigations in the federal capital and in São Paulo, where Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, arrested on Wednesday (May 3), was also heard.
Bolsonaro’s defense has already delivered to the TCU (Federal Court of Audit) 3 packages of jewelry received from the Saudi government by the former head of the Executive.
The contents arrived in Brazil illegally and were retained at customs for not having been declared to the IRS.
- Pandemic
In December 2022, the Federal Police sent a report to the STF concluding that Bolsonaro committed crimes by spreading false information about the Covid-19 pandemic and discouraging using masks when their use was mandated.
The report was delivered in the context of the inquiry headed by Justice Alexandre de Moraes investigating Bolsonaro’s statements about Covid-19 in which the former president associates the vaccine against the disease with the risk of developing AIDS.
The investigations were initiated at the request of the CPI (Parliamentary Inquiry Commission) of Covid, in the Federal Senate, to the STF.
In February this year, the PGR manifested itself by archiving the investigation.
According to the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, there are no “minimum elements capable of supporting the bringing of criminal action” due to the “lack of evidence” of crimes.
Moraes has not yet decided on the case.
- Leakage of information
In January 2022, the Federal Police said in a report delivered to the Supreme Court that elements pointed to the “direct involvement” of the former president in the leak of a secret investigation of the corporation about a hacker attack on the TSE.
The documents were leaked by the then president in August 2021 through social networks.
According to the PF, it was possible to identify in the investigation that there was “undue disclosure.”
The Federal Police says that after receiving the documents, Bolsonaro promoted a live broadcast to reveal the content of the investigation, presenting it as “proof of the vulnerability” of the electoral system.
In August of the same year, Lindôra asked Moraes to file the inquiry.
The prosecutor claimed that the Justice violated the accusatory system by ordering new measures of investigation, despite a previous request to file it made by the Prosecutor General, Augusto Aras.
Moraes denied the request.
- Interference in the PF
The former president is investigated for alleged interference in the corporation reported by his then Minister of Justice Sergio Moro, now a senator of the Republic for the União Brasil.
The investigation was opened in April 2020 to ascertain Moro’s statements against the then head of the Executive.
Upon leaving the Ministry of Justice, he accused Bolsonaro of changing the dome of the corporation to prevent investigations against people close to him.
At the time, Bolsonaro had dismissed the then director-general of the corporation, Maurício Valeixo, chosen by Moro to join the first line of government.
In Valeixo’s place, the then president tried to appoint Alexandre Ramagem, a name close to the family.
The initiative was blocked by a decision of Alexandre de Moraes, who suspended the appointment.
In late March, the Federal Police concluded that Bolsonaro had not interfered in the institution.
In September, the deputy prosecutor general requested that the STF shelve the investigation.
There is still no Court decision on the case.
- Maria do Rosário case.
The former president has been a defendant in a lawsuit in the STF (Supreme Court) since 2016 for incitement to rape and insult against the congresswoman Maria do Rosário (PT-RS).
In an interview with the newspaper “Zero Hora” in December 2014, Bolsonaro declared that the then colleague did not “deserve” to be raped for being “very ugly.”
The case reached the STF after the congresswoman filed a criminal complaint for libel and slander, and the Court rejected the 2nd.
The proceedings were interrupted during Bolsonaro’s time as President of the Republic.
Last week, the PGR defended that the case should be judged in the 1st instance.
The deputy prosecutor general of the Republic, Lindôra Maria Araújo, said that at the end of his term as president, “ends the temporary formal immunity, which paralyzed, temporarily, the exercise of persecutory activity of the State.”
ELECTORAL JUSTICE
There are 16 Aijes (Electoral Judicial Investigation Actions) against Bolsonaro in progress at the TSE.
Among them, the one that analyzes a meeting of the former president with ambassadors in July 2022, when he questioned the electoral system.
The then-president criticized the electronic ballot boxes, defended the printed vote, and cited possible fraud in the electoral system, with accusations that were never proven.
This investigation covers the draft with proposals to reverse the result of the 2022 elections found in the home of the former Justice Minister and former Public Safety Secretary of the Federal District, Anderson Torres.
On March 14, Bolsonaro admitted that the actions in the Electoral Court could make him ineligible and curb his electoral aspirations in 2026.
The speech was made at an event with businessmen held in Orlando.
The Aijes are actions filed during the electoral process whose purpose is to investigate conduct that affects the equality between candidates in an electoral dispute.
If successful, the TSE will declare the former president ineligible.
1ST INSTANCE
By mid-February, the Supreme Court had already forwarded ten requests for investigation against the former president to the TJDFT (Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories) and TRF-1 (Federal Regional Court for the 1st Region), in addition to current investigations at the STF that still include Bolsonaro’s name.
Among them, five refer to the former president’s conduct during the celebration of September 7, 2022, for alleged practice of partisan political activity.
These requests were presented by Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede); by PDT (Democratic Labor Party); by former congressman Elias Vaz (PSB); and by associations of lawyers and magistrates.
They allege crimes against the constitutional order, the democratic rule of law and the separation of powers, as well as crimes under the old National Security Law (7.170/1983).
Another action is related to a rally held in Orlando, US, on June 11.
The former president was in the country to participate in the Summit of the Americas.
The crimes mentioned are responsibility and prevarication, alleged by former federal deputy Alencar Santana.
In addition, deputy Sâmia Bonfim and deputy Orlando Silva say that Bolsonaro would have committed the crime of racism in a statement made to a black supporter.
The former president once said the man weighed “more than seven arrobas [unit of weight used in Brazil equivalent to 15 kg].
Two other lawsuits mention the possible crimes of defamation and insult, respectively.
The 1st, filed by Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, mentions publication on the ex-president’s social networks associating the congressman with an alleged negotiation of purchase of covid vaccines without bidding.
The other, by former president Dilma Rousseff (PF), who says Bolsonaro offended her honor in a video published on Twitter.
He compared the Truth Commission, in which Dilma worked, to a “pimp” and its members to “prostitutes.”
With information from Poder360