The Brazilian court that oversees public coffers determined that the former president Jair Bolsonaro returns in five days jewels valued at millions of dollars that he received as a gift from Saudi Arabiaand ordered an audit on all gifts during his tenure.
The decision “establishes a period of five days for Jair Bolsonaro to return to the general secretariat of the presidency all the assets under discussion regarding the package of jewels received from Saudi Arabia,” he said. Bruno Dantaspresident of the Court of Accounts of the Union (TCU).
The gifts that Bolsonaro must return
The TCU also ordered Bolsonaro to hand over to the presidential palace heritage two firearms that he received as a gift from the United Arab Emirates in 2019, the agency reported AFP.
Under Brazilian law, public officials They can only keep gifts that are “very personal and of minimal monetary value.”“Dantas clarified, in a session of the TCU.
“If any of the two criteria is not met, (the gifts) must go inexorably to the presidential collection“, he added.
He unanimous decision of the court is the latest chapter in a scandal that has dominated headlines in Brazil since allegations surfaced earlier this month that Bolsonaro tried to illegally import $3.2 million worth of jewelry that he and his wife received as a gift from Saudi Arabia.
The episode has become both a legal and political headache for the former presidentwho is currently in the United States and plans to return to Brazil, hoping to lead the opposition to his left-wing successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“The date set (to return) is the 29th of this month. With a week to go, we will study the situation: how is Brazil, how are the contacts here,” Bolsonaro said Tuesday at a meeting with Brazilian businessmen in Orlando, Florida, transmitted through their social networks.
Bolsonaro, who denies having committed any illegality, suggested through his lawyers that he would hand over the jewels to the authorities pending the outcome of the investigations.
The scandal broke when the newspaper The State of S. Paulo reported that customs officials intercepted an assistant to the then Bolsonaro’s Minister of Mines and Energy when trying to enter Brazil with a backpack containing a first package of diamond jewelry from the luxury Swiss brand Chopard, after an official trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2021.
The TCU also decided that this set of jewels, retained until now by customs, be delivered as soon as possible to the general secretary of the presidency, “true owner of that patrimony.”
It later emerged that Bolsonaro had kept a second set of jewelry, also from Chopard, which slipped into Brazil undetected after the same trip.
Travelers entering Brazil with goods worth more than $1,000 must declare them and pay import taxes.
How much do the jewels that Bolsonaro took away cost?
Media reports have estimated the value of the jewels at $3.2 million for the first set and at least $75,000 for the secondwhich could also have entered Brazil duty-free as an official gift to the nation, but in that case it should have been delivered to the presidential estate, and not to Bolsonaro’s family.
ED
You may also like