(WatchDogReport.org) – Brazilian Federal Police formally indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro on July 4 for criminal association and money laundering. Authorities said that both crimes were connected with undeclared diamonds that Bolsonaro received from Saudi officials during his time as president.
Brazilian journalists said that the indictment could spark political chaos in the South American nation, as the country is currently polarized, and Bolsonaro wasn’t only the leader of the opposition but also of the Brazilian right.
Legal experts explained on social media that Brazil’s General Prosecutor Paulo Gonet will analyze the indictment once he receives it and will later decide whether to officially file charges against the former president and force him to stand trial. In a statement, Bolsonaro and his legal team denied any wrongdoing related to the two crimes he has been accused of committing. He and his lawyers also said that the numerous investigations that Brazilian authorities started against him were politically motivated.
One of the investigations against the right-wing leader is trying to determine whether he ordered one of his aides during his time in office to manipulate Brazil’s public health records so he could falsify his vaccination document. Another investigation is related to whether he incited the riots in the capital city of Brasilia on January 2023, which tried to oust his presidential successor, Lula da Silva, who is one of the foremost left-wing leaders in Brazil and Latin America.
In 2023, the country’s Federal Police formally accused the former president of trying to get into Brazil diamond jewelry worth $3 million illegally. Authorities said back then that the right-wing leader also received $70,000 in cash for the sale of two watches that Saudi officials gave him as a gift during his presidency. They added that while the diamonds would’ve been exempt from tax as these were a gift from another country, it was illegal for Bolsonaro to keep them for himself.
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