Police searched former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s home in the capital as part of an investigation into his COVID-19 vaccination records. The services suspect that the former leader’s vaccination card was forged so he could enter the United States.
As part of the investigation, officers confiscated the mobile phone of Jair Bolsonaro and his wife and arrested several of his close associates. Reuters reported that one of them is former major in the Brazilian army, Elton Goncalves Moraes Barros. According to local media reports, he was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of being involved in forging Covid vaccination cards.
Near Bolsonaro, the former major of the Brazilian army was arrested. This is an investigation into the fraud of COVID-19 vaccination cardsReuters
After the raid, the former Brazilian president denied tampering with any documents. “Nothing was rigged on my part,” he told reporters. He also denied taking the injection. – I did not take the vaccine. Point added.
A view of Bolsonaro’s estate in BrasiliaReuters
The police raided on WednesdayReuters
Police on “false statements” in vaccination records
Bolsonaro is a staunch opponent of coronavirus vaccination. He has also repeatedly spread false information about the COVID-19 vaccine and its alleged side effects.
He has repeatedly declared that he will not accept the preparation and has refused to publish his vaccination history, arguing that it contains sensitive private data. However, after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva assumed the presidency, the new government decided that it was in the public interest to share this information.
Documents finally made public in February showed that Bolsonaro had been vaccinated in 2021, but police believe the document may have been forged. An investigation that led to the search began on Wednesday at the former leader’s estate in Brasilia.
Federal police outside Jair Bolsonaro’s home in the Brazilian capitalReuters
According to the federal police, “false data” was entered into Covid vaccination records maintained by the Department of Health so that people whose vaccination status has changed can obtain the necessary vaccination certificates to enter the United States.
The false data was allegedly entered into the files between November and December last year, when Bolsonaro was still president.
Bolsonaro insisted that “nothing was rigged” on his partReuters
Bolsonaro’s departure to Florida
Bolsonaro traveled to Florida in late December 2022, days before his rival was sworn into office. The United States has not commented on what visa the then-president had in the country or what, if any, vaccination records he provided.
He returned to Brazil on March 30 and has since had to appear before the police twice to testify in two different investigations.
One concerned his alleged role in the January 2023 storming of the Brazilian Congress by his supporters. The second was made over Bolsonaro’s alleged illegal shipment of millions of dollars’ worth of jewelry. He and his wife were scheduled to receive it from Saudi Arabia in 2019.
The former president denies any such wrongdoing.
Main image source: Reuters
“Coffee enthusiast. Troublemaker. Incurable introvert. Subtly charming twitter scholar. Award-winning social mediaholic. Internet buff.”
