BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Federal Police searched former President Jair Bolsonaro’s dwelling and seized his cellphone Wednesday in what they mentioned was an investigation into alleged falsification of COVID-19 vaccine playing cards.
A number of different areas additionally have been searched and a half dozen folks confronted arrest, police mentioned.
The previous president confirmed the search of his residence whereas talking with reporters, as did his spouse, Michelle, on her Instagram account.
A police official, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of the particular person wasn’t licensed to talk publicly, mentioned Bolsonaro could be questioned at Federal Police headquarters and confirmed that one among his closest allies, Mauro Cid, was arrested.
Requested in regards to the search of Bolsonaro’s dwelling, the Federal Police’s press workplace supplied a press release saying officers have been finishing up 16 searches and 6 arrests in Rio de Janeiro associated to the introduction of fraudulent knowledge associated to the COVID-19 vaccine into the nation’s well being system.
The assertion didn’t title Bolsonaro or Cid.
Native media reported that the vaccine playing cards of Bolsonaro, his advisers and his relations have been altered. The police assertion mentioned the investigation centered on playing cards altered with the intention to adjust to U.S. vaccine necessities to enter the nation.
“There was no adulteration on my half, it didn’t occur,” Bolsonaro advised reporters after the search. “I didn’t take the vaccine, interval. I by no means denied that.”
In an interview for Jovem Pan tv, Bolsonaro mentioned his vaccination information weren't required for any of his journeys to the U.S.
“The way in which heads of state are handled is completely different than for the widespread citizen. Every part is organized forward of time, and in my travels to america, I used to be not at any time required to have a vaccination card,” Bolsonaro mentioned.
Bolsonaro visited the U.S. at the least 3 times after it started usually requiring in November 2021 that non-citizens be absolutely vaccinated to enter. He went in June 2022 for the Summit of the Americas, September 2022 for the U.N. Basic Meeting and final December after he left workplace for a keep in Florida.
The investigation raises questions on whether or not falsified vaccine info might need been included in documentation for any members of the previous president’s entourage throughout these journeys.
In the course of the pandemic, Bolsonaro spent months sowing doubt in regards to the efficacy of the vaccine and defiantly refusing to get a shot. In September 2021, that had prompted doubt about whether or not he would be capable of attend the U.N.’s Basic Meeting in New York, although he did attend.
The search provides to Bolsonaro’s mounting authorized complications. Federal Police have questioned him at their Brasilia headquarters twice previously month associated to separate investigations — first, about three units of diamond jewlery he obtained from Saudi Arabia and, second, concerning his potential position in sparking the Jan. 8 rebellion by his supporters within the capital.
Bolsonaro can also be the topic of a number of investigations by Brazil’s electoral court docket into his actions in the course of the presidential election marketing campaign, notably his unsubstantiated claims that the nation’s digital voting system is inclined to fraud. These threaten to strip him of his political rights and render him unable to run for workplace in upcoming elections.
Individually, Bolsonaro and his allies are additionally going through a sprawling Supreme Court docket-led investigation concerning the unfold of alleged falsehoods and disinformation in Brazil, and a federal police investigation for the alleged genocide of the Indigenous Yanomami folks within the Amazon rainforest by encouraging unlawful miners to invade their territory and thereby endangering their lives.
The previous president has denied any wrongdoing in all the varied instances underneath investigation.
The police assertion mentioned that the insertion of false COVID-19 knowledge occurred between November 2021 and December 2022, and enabled the folks whose vaccine playing cards have been altered to adjust to the U.S. vaccine requirement to enter the nation.
Bolsonaro’s former press adviser and lawyer Fabio Wajngarten confirmed to reporters on the Federal Police headquarters in Brasilia that army police officer and Bolsonaro’s adviser Max Guilherme was arrested and had already given his assertion to investigators.
Cid, a military lieutenant colonel who has been Bolsonaro’s right-hand man, reportedly had not but talked with investigators.
Cid reportedly is a key determine within the scandal over jewels given to Bolsonaro. The previous president is accused of both failing to declare the jewels as official presents to the Brazilian presidency or attempting to carry them into the nation as personal presents with out paying required taxes.
One of many units was seized at Sao Paulo airport, and experiences have mentioned Cid tried to intervene with authorities there in efforts to retrieve them on Bolsonaro’s behalf.
The investigation into the coronavirus paperwork entails alterations associated to “ideological agendas” and meant to “maintain the discourse aimed toward attacking the vaccine towards COVID-19,” the police assertion mentioned.
For months, Bolsonaro insisted that the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine was a remedy for COVID-19, regardless of an absence of strong medical proof. At one level, he warned Brazilians that there could be no authorized recourse towards Pfizer for anybody struggling irreversiable unintended effects. He additionally linked the vaccine to AIDS — an assertion rejected by medical doctors and scientists — prompting a justice of Brazil’s high court docket to order his feedback be investigated.
Brazil’s pandemic demise toll was the second-highest on the planet, although it ranks about twentieth in per capita deaths. A congressional investigation decided Bolsonaro ought to be indicted for bungling the nation’s COVID-19 response, together with his help for unproven therapies.
Bolsonaro not too long ago returned to Brazil after a number of months outdoors Orlando, the place he principally stored a low profile other than just a few talking engagements. Over the weekend, as he seeks to reclaim his place of affect in Brazil, he traveled to the inside of Sao Paulo state and appeared at an enormous agriculture present.
Biller reported from Rio de Janeiro.
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