Brazilian police on Tuesday recommended the indictment of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, believing they had enough evidence for him to be prosecuted for falsification of vaccination certificates against Covid-19, according to the investigation report.
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Will Covid finally get Bolsonaro’s skin? According to the federal police, the former president and eight other people are involved in the falsification of vaccination certificates, “ with the intention of obtaining undue advantages linked to the circumvention of health measures established during the pandemic period “.
The police investigation report, consulted by AFP, was handed over to the attorney general’s office, which will have to decide whether or not to initiate prosecutions. The facts would have taken place between November 2021 and December 2022, according to the 231-page file.
Jair Bolsonaro traveled to the United States in December 2022, two days before the end of his mandate and the inauguration of current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, against whom he failed in his re-election attempt. Jair Bolsonaro’s daughter, his former right-hand man Mauro Cid, advisors and a federal deputy also allegedly benefited from the fraud, according to the federal police. The offense targeted is the association of criminals with a view to introducing false data into the public system.
Fabio Wajngarten, Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyer, denounced Tuesday a ” political persecution “. “ When he was president, Mr. Bolsonaro was completely exempt from presenting any certificate during his travels. This is political persecution and an attempt to put pressure on the enormous political capital that has only grown “, he wrote on the social network
The former president, aged 68, testified last May before the federal police in Brasilia in connection with this affair. His home was searched as part of the investigation. During this hearing, he denied the allegations against him and accused the authorities of trying to ” build a case ” against him.
Following a parallel investigation, the Brazilian comptroller’s office established in January that the vaccination certificate of the former president, who opposed vaccination, was ” fake » after noting inconsistencies between the files of the Ministry of Health and other official bodies. The investigation aimed to determine whether federal officials were involved in the falsification. However, she recommended the dismissal of the case “ lack of sufficient information » to find those responsible, after noting that many officials could enter false data, having access to the vaccination computer system.
During his mandate (2019-2022), the far-right leader continued to criticize anti-Covid vaccines, ensuring that he did not intend to be immunized against the pandemic which has caused more than 700,000 dead in Brazil. He later admitted that he had not been vaccinated.