Brazilian federal police have charged former President Jair Bolsonaro with money laundering and conspiracy to commit crimes in connection with undeclared diamonds the far-right leader received from Saudi Arabia during his time in office, according to a source familiar with the charges.
A second source confirmed the indictment, but did not specify the specific crimes. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Brazil’s Supreme Court has yet to receive the police report with the indictment. Once it does, the country’s attorney general, Paulo Gonet, will analyze the document and decide whether to file charges and force Mr. Bolsonaro to stand trial.
The indictment, applauded by his opponents but denounced as political persecution by his supporters, significantly raises the stakes in a series of investigations into the controversial former leader.
Multiple accusations
Mr Bolsonaro and his lawyers have denied any wrongdoing in this case, as well as the many others the former president faces. He has already been indicted for allegedly ordering an aide to falsify his COVID-19 vaccination certificate and is accused of fomenting the uprising in the capital Brasília on January 8, 2023, to oust his successor from power.
Last year, federal police also accused Mr Bolsonaro of trying to smuggle $3 million worth of diamond jewellery into the country and selling two luxury watches.
Police said in August that Bolsonaro had received nearly $70,000 from the sale of the two watches, which he had received as a gift from Saudi Arabia. Brazil requires its citizens arriving by air from abroad to declare goods worth more than $1,000 and, for any amount above that exemption, pay a tax equal to 50% of their value.
The jewelry would have been tax-free if it had been a gift from Saudi Arabia to Brazil, but not as a gift to Mr. Bolsonaro.
The investigation showed that in June 2022, one of Mr Bolsonaro’s top aides, Mauro Cid, sold a Rolex watch and a Patek Philippe watch to a boutique in the United States for a total of $68,000. They had been donated by the Saudi government in 2019. Mr Cid later signed a plea deal with authorities and confirmed everything.
“Political persecution”
Jair Bolsonaro retains a loyal allegiance within his political base, as evidenced by the outpouring of support in February, when an estimated 185,000 people packed São Paulo’s main boulevard to protest what the former president called “political persecution.”
His critics, particularly members of the political party of his rival, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have welcomed every step forward in the investigation and have repeatedly called for his arrest.
Last year, Brazil’s top electoral court ruled that Mr. Bolsonaro had abused his presidential powers during his 2022 re-election campaign, making him ineligible to run for office until 2030. The case centered on a meeting in which Mr. Bolsonaro used members of the government, state television and the palace in Brasília to inform foreign ambassadors that the country’s electronic voting system was rigged.
Mr Bolsonaro is expected to meet Argentine President Javier Milei this weekend at a conference of conservatives in Balneario Camboriu in southern Brazil.