Brazilian federal police accused former president Jair Bolsonaro of receiving large sums of money between March 2023 and February 2024 without any apparent reason. This could further complicate the former leader’s legal issues.
Bolsonaro, who is scheduled to face the verdict and sentencing phase of his trial over alleged coup plan in early September, is suspected of money laundering, according to investigators and Brazil’s financial watchdog. If the attorney general chooses to charge the former president with obstruction of justice, he may be subject to another trial.
Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to the most recent charge, but he has previously stated that the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is politically persecuting him.
The former president allegedly received almost 30 million Brazilian reais ($5 million), the majority of which had no obvious reason, and nearly the same amount was debited during that time, according to the latest documents, which are part of a 170-page obstruction-of-justice probe. Bolsonaro served as president from Jan 1, 2019, to Dec 31, 2022.
The documents, which were forwarded to the nation’s Supreme Court, were made available to the AP on Thursday. The state-run bank Banco do Brasil provides a large portion of the financial watchdog’s information.
The alleged source of nearly 20 million reais ($3.48 million) was over 1.2 million PIX, or direct transactions. Bolsonaro’s investment expenditures during that time were almost the same. Additionally, the documents revealed that the former president spent money on exchange operations, withdrawals, deposit slip payments, and wire transfers.
Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo engaged in “several maneuvers to dissimulate the origin and destination of financial resources, with the aim of financing and supporting activities of illegal nature of the lawmaker (Eduardo Bolsonaro) living abroad,” according to new records released by Brazil’s federal police.
Bolsonaro’s attorneys had earlier expressed surprise at the federal police’s official accusation of obstruction of justice.
According to the federal police investigation, which was made public on Wednesday, Bolsonaro considered applying for political asylum in Argentina last year and kept in touch with allies in recent weeks, even though due to precautionary measures, he is under house arrest.
Late on Wednesday, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is in-charge of the case, gave Bolsonaro’s attorneys 48 hours to provide an explanation for why the former president was not complying with the conditions of his house arrest.
Bolsonaro’s attorneys denied any misconduct.
“There was never noncompliance with any precautionary measure previously imposed,” the attorneys said in a statement, adding that they will promptly provide de Moraes with an explanation of Bolsonaro’s recent actions.
In a television interview on Thursday, one of Bolsonaro’s attorneys Paulo Cunha Bueno stated that the former president never gave obtaining political asylum in Argentina any real thought. As the enquiries into Bolsonaro continued, he told TV GloboNews that the former president received “every kind of suggestion.”