Deceased ex-Minister’s Cell Phone Content Said to Be “Destructive” for Bolsonaro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Amid the Queiroz scandal, the Planalto could be shaken by yet another political bombshell in the coming days. That is because, according to columnist Thaís Oyama of UOL, Gustavo Bebbiano’s cell phone has arrived in Brazil.

Bebianno died of a heart attack in March this year and the device was under his sister’s care in the United States.

A onetime Bolsonaro strongman, the former ally was challenged in the government and the first Minister to be dismissed during the President’s term.

Before his death, Bebianno disclosed that he had kept material, “outside Brazil”, to be used in case something were to happen to him.

According to Thais Oyama, someone who had access to the content of Bebianno’s cell phone said that the disclosure of these conversations would be “destructive” for Bolsonaro.

First Cabinet Minister dismissed by Bolsonaro

Bebianno was the first Minister to step down from President Jair Bolsonaro’s government, in February 2019. His dismissal was confirmed amid a government crisis that arose with the suspicion that the PSL, the party to which both Bolsonaro and Bebianno were affiliated, would have used “strawmen” candidates in the 2018 elections.

The newspaper “Folha de S.Paulo” reported at the time that when Bebianno was PSL chair, the party transferred R$400,000 (US$75,280) to a candidate for the Pernambuco state congressional seat. According to the newspaper, the transfer occurred four days before the elections, and she received only 274 votes.

Bebianno denied the irregularities, claiming he was not responsible for choosing the candidates who received money from the party. According to him, it was up to the local directories to decide.

After the “Folha” report, in an interview with the newspaper “O Globo”, Bebianno denied that he was the trigger of a crisis within the government and added that he had only spoken to the President three times that day. At the time, Bebianno was still hospitalized due to surgery.

After the interview was published, City Councilor Carlos Bolsonaro used social media to say that Bebianno lied when he said he had spoken with the President.

Carlos, and later Bolsonaro himself, even released an audio recording in which, according to them, the President told Bebianno that he could not speak with the then Minister.

Campaign coordinator

Bebianno was considered one of Bolsonaro’s trusted men. He was one of the coordinators of the President’s election campaign, having put together the agreement that led Bolsonaro to join the PSL and having chaired the party during the 2018 election race.

After the election, Bebianno left the post and was chosen to take over the General Secretariat of the Presidency, one of the Ministries with offices in the Planalto Palace.

Source: Fórum