Issued on: 03/05/2023 -
A federal police officer stands guard near the house of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, during a search operation at his home in Brasilia, Brazil on May 3, 2023.
© Adriano Machado, Reuters
Text by:NEWS WIRES
Police in Brazil searched ex-president Jair Bolsonaro's home Wednesday as part of an investigation into allegations of falsifying Covid-19 vaccination certificates, media reports said.
The far-right ex-president (2019-2022), who faced widespread criticism for his unorthodox handling of the pandemic, has repeatedly said he is not vaccinated against Covid-19.
Federal police confirmed they were investigating "the insertion of falsified Covid-19 vaccination data" into the health ministry's electronic vaccination records system, but did not mention Bolsonaro by name.
"The falsified entries, which occurred between November 2021 and December 2022, resulted in the alteration of the true Covid-19 vaccination status of the individuals in question," police said in a statement.
"As a result, the individuals were able to emit vaccination certificates and use them to evade health restrictions put in place by authorities in Brazil and the United States."
Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States in December, after losing his re-election bid to veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- a bitterly divisive election fought largely over the far-right incumbent's widely criticized management of Covid-19, which has claimed more than 700,000 lives in Brazil.
The US requires international air travelers to present proof of vaccination against Covid-19, a requirement the White House announced Monday would end on May 11.
Bolsonaro, who defied expert advice on managing the pandemic and joked the vaccine could "turn you into an alligator," remained in Orlando, Florida until March 30, when he returned to Brazil.
Police said they were carrying out 16 search and seizure orders and executing six arrest warrants as part of the operation.
An AFP photographer said federal police could be seen outside Bolsonaro's home in Brasilia.
Media reports said police had arrested a top Bolsonaro aide, army officer Mauro Cid.
(AFP)
Bolsonaro home searched as Brazil probes fake vaccine cards
BY CARLA BRIDI AND DAVID BILLER, ASSOCIATED PRESS - 05/03/23
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press outside his home before getting into a car after Federal Police agents carried out a search and seizure warrant in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. When asked about the search of Bolsonaro’s home in Brasilia, the Federal Police press office gave a statement saying officers were carrying out searches and arrests related to the introduction of fraudulent data related to the COVID-19 vaccine into the nation’s health system. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Federal Police searched former President Jair Bolsonaro’s home and seized his phone Wednesday in what they said was an investigation into alleged falsification of COVID-19 vaccine cards. Several other locations also were searched and a half-dozen people faced arrest, police said.
The president confirmed the search on his residence while speaking with reporters, as did his wife Michelle on her Instagram account. She said her phone wasn’t seized, contrary to media reports.
A federal police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said that Bolsonaro will be deposed at Federal Police headquarters and confirmed that one of his closest allies, Mauro Cid, was arrested.
Asked about the search of Bolsonaro’s home, the Federal Police’s press office provided a statement saying officers were carrying out 16 searches and six arrests in Rio de Janeiro related to the introduction of fraudulent data related to the COVID-19 vaccine into the nation’s health system. The statement didn’t name Bolsonaro or Cid.
Local media reported that the vaccine cards of Bolsonaro, his advisors and his family members were altered. During the pandemic, Bolsonaro spent months sowing doubt about the efficacy of the vaccine and defiantly refusing to get a shot. In Sept. 2021, that prompted doubt about whether he would be able to attend the U.N.’s General Assembly in New York.
“There was no adulteration on my part, it didn’t happen,” Bolsonaro told reporters on Wednesday after the search. “I didn’t take the vaccine, period. I never denied that.”
The search adds to Bolsonaro’s mounting legal headaches. Federal Police have questioned him at their Brasilia headquarters twice in the past month related to separate investigations — first, about three sets of diamond jewlery he received from Saudi Arabia and, second, regarding his potential role in sparking the Jan. 8 uprising by his supporters in the capital.
Bolsonaro is also the subject of several investigations by Brazil’s electoral court into his actions during the presidential election campaign, particularly his unsubstantiated claims that the nation’s electronic voting system is susceptible to fraud. Those threaten to strip him of his political rights and render him unable to run for office in upcoming elections.
Separately, Bolsonaro and his allies are also facing a sprawling Supreme Court-led investigation regarding the spread of alleged falsehoods and disinformation in Brazil, and a federal police investigation for the alleged genocide of the Indigenous Yanomami people in the Amazon rainforest by encouraging illegal miners to invade their territory and thereby endangering their lives.
The former president has denied any wrongdoing in all of the various cases under investigation.
The police statement said that the insertion of false COVID-19 data occurred between November 2021 and December 2022, and enabled the people whose vaccine cards were altered to comply with the U.S. vaccine requirement to enter the country.
The investigation indicates the objective was related to “ideological agendas” and meant to “sustain the discourse aimed at attacking the vaccine against COVID-19,” the statement said.
For months, Bolsonaro insisted that the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine was a treatment for COVID-19, despite a lack of robust medical evidence. At one point, the former president warned Brazilians that there would be no legal recourse against Pfizer for anyone suffering irreversiable side effects. He also linked the vaccine to AIDS — an assertion rejected by doctors and scientists — prompting a justice of Brazil’s top court to order his comments be investigated.
Brazil’s pandemic death toll was the second-highest in the world. A congressional investigation determined Bolsonaro should be indicted for bungling the nation’s COVID-19 responde, including him insispushing unproven treatments.
Bolsonaro recently returned to Brazil after several months outside Orlando, where he mostly kept a low profile aside from a few speaking engagements. This weekend, as he seeks to reclaim his position of influence in Brazil, he traveled to the interior of Sao Paulo state and appeared at a massive agriculture show.
___
Biller reported from Rio de Janeiro.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press outside his home before getting into a car after Federal Police agents carried out a search and seizure warrant in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. When asked about the search of Bolsonaro’s home in Brasilia, the Federal Police press office gave a statement saying officers were carrying out searches and arrests related to the introduction of fraudulent data related to the COVID-19 vaccine into the nation’s health system. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Federal Police searched former President Jair Bolsonaro’s home and seized his phone Wednesday in what they said was an investigation into alleged falsification of COVID-19 vaccine cards. Several other locations also were searched and a half-dozen people faced arrest, police said.
The president confirmed the search on his residence while speaking with reporters, as did his wife Michelle on her Instagram account. She said her phone wasn’t seized, contrary to media reports.
A federal police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said that Bolsonaro will be deposed at Federal Police headquarters and confirmed that one of his closest allies, Mauro Cid, was arrested.
Asked about the search of Bolsonaro’s home, the Federal Police’s press office provided a statement saying officers were carrying out 16 searches and six arrests in Rio de Janeiro related to the introduction of fraudulent data related to the COVID-19 vaccine into the nation’s health system. The statement didn’t name Bolsonaro or Cid.
Local media reported that the vaccine cards of Bolsonaro, his advisors and his family members were altered. During the pandemic, Bolsonaro spent months sowing doubt about the efficacy of the vaccine and defiantly refusing to get a shot. In Sept. 2021, that prompted doubt about whether he would be able to attend the U.N.’s General Assembly in New York.
“There was no adulteration on my part, it didn’t happen,” Bolsonaro told reporters on Wednesday after the search. “I didn’t take the vaccine, period. I never denied that.”
The search adds to Bolsonaro’s mounting legal headaches. Federal Police have questioned him at their Brasilia headquarters twice in the past month related to separate investigations — first, about three sets of diamond jewlery he received from Saudi Arabia and, second, regarding his potential role in sparking the Jan. 8 uprising by his supporters in the capital.
Bolsonaro is also the subject of several investigations by Brazil’s electoral court into his actions during the presidential election campaign, particularly his unsubstantiated claims that the nation’s electronic voting system is susceptible to fraud. Those threaten to strip him of his political rights and render him unable to run for office in upcoming elections.
Separately, Bolsonaro and his allies are also facing a sprawling Supreme Court-led investigation regarding the spread of alleged falsehoods and disinformation in Brazil, and a federal police investigation for the alleged genocide of the Indigenous Yanomami people in the Amazon rainforest by encouraging illegal miners to invade their territory and thereby endangering their lives.
The former president has denied any wrongdoing in all of the various cases under investigation.
The police statement said that the insertion of false COVID-19 data occurred between November 2021 and December 2022, and enabled the people whose vaccine cards were altered to comply with the U.S. vaccine requirement to enter the country.
The investigation indicates the objective was related to “ideological agendas” and meant to “sustain the discourse aimed at attacking the vaccine against COVID-19,” the statement said.
For months, Bolsonaro insisted that the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine was a treatment for COVID-19, despite a lack of robust medical evidence. At one point, the former president warned Brazilians that there would be no legal recourse against Pfizer for anyone suffering irreversiable side effects. He also linked the vaccine to AIDS — an assertion rejected by doctors and scientists — prompting a justice of Brazil’s top court to order his comments be investigated.
Brazil’s pandemic death toll was the second-highest in the world. A congressional investigation determined Bolsonaro should be indicted for bungling the nation’s COVID-19 responde, including him insispushing unproven treatments.
Bolsonaro recently returned to Brazil after several months outside Orlando, where he mostly kept a low profile aside from a few speaking engagements. This weekend, as he seeks to reclaim his position of influence in Brazil, he traveled to the interior of Sao Paulo state and appeared at a massive agriculture show.
___
Biller reported from Rio de Janeiro.
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