Former adviser confirms Jair Bolsonaro received money in US from illegal sale of official gifts

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro received money in the United States from the sale of official gifts given to Brazil by other countries, which he ordered sold because he was worried about his financial future. The serious allegation, confirmed by a report in this weekend’s issue of Veja magazine, was made in a joint statement by the Federal Police (FF) of the former ruler’s former aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid.

Sid, who is still serving in the armed forces and has been imprisoned since May 3 for another crime also linked to Jair Bolsonaro, namely falsifying the administration of a Covid-19 vaccine to travel to the United States, was released on the last day of the ninth day. as the first benefit after signing a judicial cooperation agreement with the PF and the Federal Supreme Court (STF). He returned home with an electronic bracelet, was forced to surrender his passports and weapons, was forcibly removed from military service, and now he will have to detail and prove the charges against him.

Always agreeing with the magazine, Mauro Cid said that Jair Bolsonaro tasked him, when he was still president of Brazil, with assessing the future sale of state gifts offered to Brazil by other countries, mainly cases of jewelry. in pure gold and precious stones, which the former head of state considered his property. Hastily leaving Brazil the day before the end of his term last December, Bolsonaro illegally took many of these valuable gifts on the presidential plane, which he also used irregularly as he was leaving office in a few hours and the trip was not official, and ordered them to be sold their.

The publication claims that Sid told PF that he himself sold at least two gold and diamond watches in US stores specializing in the sale of luxury goods. The amount received from the sale of these two gifts, approximately $68,000, was initially credited to the personal account of the lieutenant colonel’s father, Reserve General Mauro Lorena Cid, and then withdrawn and transferred to Jair Bolsonaro, who remained in the United States. until March 30 this year, in installments and in cash, so as not to leave any clues or arouse suspicion in large transactions.

No details have yet been revealed about the fate of the many other valuable properties offered to Brazil and with which Jair Bolsonaro remained as if they were his, since Mauro Cid’s cooperation with the PF and STF is still confidential. According to a survey by the Brazilian Court of Auditors, published a few days ago, Bolsonaro received at least 128 gifts irregularly, since these jewelry and objects should have been included in the assets of the President of the Republic.

The report says that Mauro Cid was trying to somehow alleviate Bolsonaro’s responsibility for this incredible conspiracy. The official said that selling gifts on the orders of the president may even be immoral, but they did it. I don’t know that it was illegal. Sid said that Jair Bolsonaro was worried about his personal finances, legal fees and fines that he already expected to pay as part of the flood of lawsuits he already expected to face after leaving office, and that he sought help officials selling gifts to quickly raise funds, but the report of the PF itself, already quoted a few weeks ago morning Post claims that the investigation indicates that the true goal of the former head of state was personal enrichment.