Ministry of Justice triggers PF to investigate jewelry from Michelle and Bolsonaro

The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, said, on Friday night, the 3rd, that he will call the Federal Police to investigate the attempt by the Bolsonaro government (PL) to illegally bring into the country a set of diamond jewelry valued at around of €3 million, equivalent to R$16.5 million.

On social networks, Dino stated that the facts revealed by the Estadão report could constitute crimes of embezzlement, in addition to embezzlement and money laundering, among other illegalities.

“Facts related to jewelry, which may constitute crimes of embezzlement, embezzlement and money laundering, among other possible crimes, will be brought to the Federal Police’s official knowledge for legal action. , on his personal Twitter account.

As Estadão revealed, the jewels were a gift from the Saudi regime to the then president and first lady Michelle Bolsonaro and were seized at the Guarulhos airport. They were in the backpack of a military man, advisor to the then Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, who had traveled to the Middle East in October 2021.

The seizure of diamonds took place on October 26, 2021, during a routine inspection among passengers on flight 773 who disembarked at the Guarulhos terminals, originating in Saudi Arabia. After passing the bags through the X-ray, the Revenue agents decided to inspect the luggage of Marcos André Soeiro, a military man and adviser to Bento Albuquerque.

Albuquerque went to Saudi Arabia to represent the Brazilian government at the “Initiativa Verde do Middle East” summit meeting, held in the capital of that country.

Sought this Friday by Estadão, the former minister admitted that he brought the jewelry for Michelle and the watch, also diamond, for Bolsonaro, but said it was a closed package and he did not know what was inside.

Bento Albuquerque confirmed that the jewelry brought to Brazil from Saudi Arabia was, in fact, a gift for Michelle Bolsonaro. “None of us knew what those boxes were,” said Albuquerque.

When the items were seized, when questioned by the Revenue agent, Albuquerque reported who the gifts were for. “This was a gift. As it was a piece of jewelry, the jewelry was not for President Bolsonaro, right? It should have been for First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro. And the watch and these things, which we saw later, should have been for the president, like two packages.”

Bolsonaro tried, in every way, to recover the jewels, with actions carried out through his ministries and his own cabinet. There were four failed attempts, involving the presidential office, three ministries (Economy, Mines and Energy and Foreign Affairs) and the military.

The last one occurred when there were only three days left for the president to leave office, on December 29.

The former president authorized a government official to take a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) plane that day and land at Guarulhos airport, saying he was there to remove the jewelry. “You can’t have anything from the old (government) to the next one, you have to take everything away,” argued the military man, according to reports collected by the newspaper. The trip was authorized by Bolsonaro himself, as shown by official documents.

O Estadão located the request to the FAB to take the head of the President’s Orders Assistance, Navy First Sergeant Jairo Moreira da Silva. The document said that Silva’s trip was “to meet the demands of the President of the Republic in that city”, with return “in a commercial flight on the Guarulhos stretch to Brasília”.

To CNN, Bolsonaro denied that he was aware of the jewelry that he and his wife would receive as a gift. “I am being accused of a gift that I neither asked for nor received. There is no illegality on my part.