Jair Bolsonaro’s home is raided in Brazil during an anti-covid vaccination operation

Brazilian police raided the home of the former president on Wednesday Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia as part of an investigation into the alleged falsification of vaccination certificates against covid-19, which he denied.

The far-right ex-president, who ruled Brazil from 2019 to 2022, confirmed the search of his residence, saying his mobile phone was seized, and accused authorities of trying to “build a case against him” .

“There is no counterfeiting on my part. I didn’t get vaccinated, period, I never denied that,” Bolsonaro said in statements to journalists for his residence in the Brazilian capital.

“I am really shocked by the search and seizure. I have nothing more to say,” he said.

The ex president, an anti-covid vaccine skeptic, challenged expert advice on how to handle the pandemic. On several occasions he repeated that he would not get vaccinated, going so far as to say that whoever did risked becoming an “alligator”.

Bolsonaro has been widely criticized for his fight against Covid-19, which has killed more than 700,000 people in Brazil.

Without naming the former president, the Federal Police (PF) reported that it was investigating “a criminal organization” suspected of introducing “false covid-19 vaccination data into public health systems”.

“The false additions, which took place between November 2021 and December 2022, resulted in the alteration of the truth about (…) the immunization status against covid-19 of the beneficiaries,” the Justice Department statement said. Security.

The alleged counterfeiting allowed people to “issue the respective vaccination certificates and use them to circumvent the current health restrictions imposed by the public authorities (Brazil and the United States) to prevent the spread (…) of covid-19”, adds the comment.

Bolsonaro was defeated in October’s presidential election and traveled to the United States on December 30, two days before the inauguration of his left-wing successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There he remained until March 30.

The vaccination certificate is required to enter the United States until May 11, when the rule no longer applies, the White House announced Monday.

While foreign government officials were exempt from that requirement, it is not known how US authorities handled Bolsonaro’s case after his term expired on January 1.

“Nowhere was I asked for a vaccination certificate,” Bolsonaro said on Wednesday.

Former Bolsonaro collaborator arrested

Federal police said that as part of the operation they conducted on Wednesday 16 search warrants, in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, and six arrest warrants executed.

According to Brazilian media, the PF’s arrests included Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s former deputy, who was considered his right-hand man during the presidency.

The president’s alleged fake vaccination records were allegedly uploaded to the public health system before his trip to the United States and then deletedsaid TV Globo.

Since returning to Brazil, Bolsonaro has been questioned twice by federal police.

On April 5, he had to give a statement to the investigation opened into the illegal entry into Brazil of valuable jewels given by Saudi Arabia in 2021.

And last week he had to testify for the PF as part of another investigation into his alleged role in the January 8 riots, when thousands of his followers raided the headquarters of the three state forces in the Brazilian capital in an attempt to overthrow Lula. , who had taken office seven days earlier.

In all, Bolsonaro faces four Supreme Court investigations that could send him to jail, as well as 16 cases before Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

The TSE, which is particularly investigating Bolsonaro’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in Brazil’s electoral system, could strip him of the right to run for president for an eight-year term, excluding him from that race in 2026.