SAO PAULO – Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday denied committing “illegal acts” after a report that jewellery allegedly gifted by Saudi Arabia to him and his spouse was introduced into the South American nation with out being declared to authorities.
The authorities of Bolsonaro’s successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pledged to research the matter.
On Friday, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported {that a} member of Bolsonaro’s authorities had illegally tried to convey to Brazil a $3.2 million jewellery set consisting of a diamond necklace, ring, watch and earrings gifted to the far-right former president and former first girl Michelle Bolsonaro by the Saudi authorities.
The Saudi embassy in Brazil didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
“I’m being accused of a gift I neither asked for nor received,” Bolsonaro was quoted as saying in an interview with CNN Brasil. “There is no illegality on my part. I never committed illegal acts.”
Still, Lula aides promised that probe into the matter can be launched.
Justice Minister Flavio Dino stated he would request a federal police investigation, whereas Paulo Pimenta, a spokesman for the leftist Brazilian president, careworn there can be no impunity.
“The evidence is robust and the truth will out,” Pimenta stated in a social media broadcast.
According to O Estado de S. Paulo, the jewels valued at 3 million euros ($3.19 million) have been discovered by customs brokers within the backpack of an aide to then-Mines and Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque who was getting back from an official journey to the Middle East in October 2021.
Agents on the Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo seized the jewellery, as individuals should declare any items price greater than $1,000 after they enter Brazil, the newspaper stated, including that the Bolsonaro administration unsuccessfully tried to get better the jewellery a number of occasions by way of authorities officers.
Bolsonaro is within the United States, having flown to Florida in late December, 48 hours earlier than Lula was sworn in. He attended the CPAC conservative convention in Washington on Saturday the place he wasalso anticipated to satisfy former US President Donald Trump, his political ally. —Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
