The scandal involving the illegal sale of jewelry may lead Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) to a prison sentence. However, that is not the only investigation targeting the former president. The jewelry case is part of an inquiry into digital militias ongoing in the Federal Supreme Court (also known in Brazil as STF), which has also four other lines of investigation, namely: the anti-democratic acts, the attacks on the electoral process, the dissemination of misinformation during the pandemic and the coup attempt. There is also an inquiry into Bolsonaro’s supposed participation in a fraud scheme to manipulate COVID-19 vaccination records, which were used for trips abroad.
Remember the cases:
The jewelry sale
Brazil’s Federal Police confirmed that the former president knew about his allies’ attempts to sell jewelry the country received from foreign delegations. The messages found on the seized cell phone of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro's closest aide, confirmed that the former president knew about the negotiations.
On August 17, Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes authorized the disclosure of telephone and financial records of Bolsonaro and his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, to verify if the money acquired from the jewelry sale was given to the former president.
Moraes’ decision occurred on the same day that Mauro Cid’s lawyer, Cezar Bittencourt, informed that his client would admit he sold some of the jewels at the behest of Bolsonaro and had supposedly delivered the money in cash. The value may have exceeded 1 million reais (over US$200,000).
According to the corporation, an offensive was set up to prevent the gifts from being registered by the sector of the Planalto Palace in charge of that. Supposed members of the scheme include Bolsonaro's ex-aide Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid; his father, retired army general Mauro César Lourena; Army second lieutenant Osmar Crivelatti, who was Mauro Cid’s right-hand man; and the former lawyer to the Bolsonaro family Frederick Wassef.
They were the target of an operation by the Federal Police called Luke 12:2 – about the Bible verse that says “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known” –, which started on August 11, search warrants ordered by the Supreme Court’s Alexandre de Moraes. According to him, there are pieces of evidence of a scheme headed by Bolsonaro.
In an official statement, the Federal Police said that “there is strong evidence that the people under investigation used the structure of the Brazilian state to deviate luxury items given by foreign authorities to the President of the Republic (…) to generate illicit enrichment for former President Jair Bolsonaro.”
The money obtained through the sales was allegedly “converted into cash and was added to the personal assets of the individuals under investigation through intermediary persons and without using the formal banking system, aiming to hide the origin, location and ownership of the sum.”
Brazil’s Federal Police is sharing all the details of the investigation with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). That could make Jair Bolsonaro, Mauro Cid and Mauro César Lourena subject to investigations in the US for possible financial offences, such as money laundering and the use of bank accounts to hide illicit money. Besides, the FBI will probably investigate the companies, shops and individuals who bought the jewels to determine whether they knew the origin of the items.
Digital militia inquiry
The search warrant operation started on August 11 and was an outcome of the Supreme Court inquiry into the activities of digital militias, whose rapporteur is Minister Alexandre de Moraes. The inquiry began with the investigation of the anti-democratic acts of 2020. According to the Federal Police, the organization heading the acts orchestrated the coup escalation until the attacks against the electoral system in 2022.
In total, the inquiry has five lines of investigation that are intertwined: the anti-democratic acts, the attacks on the electoral process, the dissemination of misinformation during the pandemic, the coup attempt and the use of the structure of the Brazilian state to obtain personal advantages, such as selling luxury gifts. All these events were supposedly organized by the same group of Bolsonaro’s allies, which justifies Operation Luke 12:2 as having started with the inquiry into the digital militias.
When it comes to the suspected use of the state apparatus to obtain advantages, so far there has not been enough evidence to directly implicate Jair Bolsonaro in the investigations. That is due to the fact that the investigation of the suspected transactions carried out by members of the team led by Mauro Cid was still ongoing.
However, the recent findings of the Federal Police may directly implicate Bolsonaro in the illegal sale of jewelry and other luxury objects the Brazilian state received, since the messages show that the former president supposedly received money from the sale of the items.
“Office of hate”
Also within the scope of the digital militias inquiry, the Federal Police sent a report to the Supreme Court in which they highlighted the existence of a digital militia responsible for the so-called “office of hate” which worked against the country’s democratic institutions and their supporters.
“It can also be observed that, besides promoting attacks on traditional media outlets (newspapers, radio stations, TV channels etc.) and encouraging polarization, the group used this apparatus to anonymously attack many people (political opponents, Supreme Court ministers, staff from the government, dissidents etc.). It all was done to pave the way to reach ideological, political, partisan and financial goals,” Denisse Ribeiro, police chief of the Federal Police, wrote.
In four steps, Ribeiro summarized how the group worked. The first one was election, when the group chose its targets. After that, comes the preparation of the contents to be published. The third step is the attack itself with aggressive posts and fake news. Finally, the office spreads the posts and fake news.
The police chief also said that the group worked to disseminate false information about the COVID-19 pandemic. “As an example, among others, one can mention the ‘early treatment’ against COVID-19 using hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine and azithromycin.”
Despite pointing to the existence of the so-called “office of hate”, the police chief explained that the investigation must continue. “There are, likewise, gaps that need to be filled, pointing out the need to carry out new steps aimed at individualizing the facts practiced, making clear authors and participants”, she added.
Attacks on the electoral process
The former president was already sentenced by the Supreme Electoral Court to eight years of ineligibility due to abuse of political power and misuse of media when attacking the electoral process during a meeting with foreign ambassadors shortly before the 2022 elections. However, the spreading of misinformation about electronic voting machines is also being investigated by the Supreme Court within the scope of the digital militias inquiry.
In May, Minister Alexandre de Moraes determined that investigations related to the attacks perpetrated by Bolsonaro on electronic voting machines and the alleged activities of a digital militia against democracy should be conducted jointly.
The decision responded to a request by the Attorney General's Office, which argued that unifying the investigations is crucial before ruling on the possibility of denouncing Bolsonaro. The inquiry about the attacks Bolsonaro vowed against the electoral system started in 2021 after the then-president spread fake information about electronic voting machines during a live stream on social media platforms.
“The Federal Police conducted a diligence process and concluded that the elements of interest obtained during the investigation corroborate the core modus operandi of this group of people in line with the acts they already presented to the Supreme Electoral Court on the occasion of the administrative inquiry also started as a result of the live stream," Moraes wrote at the time.
Vaccination record card fraud
According to the Federal Police, there is evidence that Bolsonaro knew about the scheme to forge COVID-19 vaccination records, since his vaccination card had fake information. Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s closest aide, supposedly coordinated the scheme. Cid has been in prison since May 3.
“Jair Bolsonaro, Mauro César Cid and, possibly, [advisor] Marcelo Costa Câmara were fully aware of the fraudulent insertion of vaccination data, remaining quiet about such facts up until now,” says an excerpt from a representation of the Federal Police.
In a statement, the current aide of the former president, Max Guilherme, confirmed to the Federal Police that he generated a COVID-19 vaccination certificate in Bolsonaro’s name, even though he had not been vaccinated.
“Like the investigation related to Jair Bolsonaro and his daughter Laura, the information collected demonstrated logical and temporal coherence from the insertion of false data in the SI-PNI system [Information System of the National Immunization Program] for generating a COVID-19 vaccination certificate,” said the Federal Police about Cid Moura.
Edited by: Nadini Lopes e Felipe Mendes
