RIO DE JANEIRO — The Brazilian police raided the house of former President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday and seized his cellphone as a part of a sweeping investigation into cast Covid-19 vaccination data which will have allowed him and his prime aides to achieve entry into the United States.
The authorities searched greater than a dozen houses in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília, arresting six individuals, together with one in all Mr. Bolsonaro’s closest aides and two of his safety guards, who’re suspected of tampering with a authorities vaccination database and issuing falsified data.
The cast vaccine playing cards could have allowed Mr. Bolsonaro and his aides to sidestep U.S. journey restrictions put in place on the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, investigators stated.
False vaccine certificates could have been issued for Mr. Bolsonaro, his 12-year-old daughter, Laura, and different prime officers in his administration, in response to the Brazilian authorities. The police stated the vaccination data have been cast between November 2021 and December 2022.
On Wednesday, Mr. Bolsonaro denied ever claiming he had been vaccinated and stated the U.S. immigration authorities had by no means requested him to point out a vaccination report.
“At no time did I say that I took the vaccine, and I didn’t,” Mr. Bolsonaro advised reporters in entrance of his residence in Brasília after handing over his cell phone to the police. He stated that deciding to not take the vaccine was a “personal decision” and he confirmed that his daughter had not been vaccinated both.
Mr. Bolsonaro was named as a suspect within the investigation, in response to paperwork launched by Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday. The Supreme Court stated in a choice approving the searches that the investigative connection between the president and a potential crime is “plausible, logical and robust.”
During his time as Brazil’s right-wing president, Mr. Bolsonaro, a staunch critic of Covid photographs, constantly dodged questions on whether or not he was vaccinated towards the virus. His vaccination standing grew to become such an argument that, in 2021, Congress positioned a century-long seal of secrecy on Mr. Bolsonaro’s vaccination data.
Mr. Bolsonaro traveled to the United States at the least 4 instances throughout the pandemic, together with in September 2021, when he took a delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. During the journey, he posted a photograph of himself and his entourage consuming pizza outside, setting off hypothesis over whether or not the group had been barred from eating indoors due to Covid restrictions.
Mr. Bolsonaro was closely criticized for stalling the acquisition of Covid vaccines and for incessantly spreading misinformation about them. At one level he claimed that the jabs may flip Brazilians into crocodiles.
A Brazilian congressional investigation concluded that Mr. Bolsonaro needs to be charged with “crimes against humanity” for his dealing with of the pandemic, which killed 700,000 individuals in Brazil. Prosecutors haven’t pursued these costs.
The police have been anticipated to query Mr. Bolsonaro concerning the falsified vaccination data afterward Wednesday.
Following the raid on his house, the usually brash Mr. Bolsonaro appeared solemn as he spoke on a right-wing tv program. “During my visits to the U.S., not at any moment was a vaccination card required,” he stated. “So there was no fraud on my part. ” At instances he appeared to tear up throughout the interview.
Among these arrested on Wednesday was Mauro Cid Barbosa, a army official who was Mr. Bolsonaro’s secretary and adviser.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seized on Mr. Bolsonaro’s mishandling of the pandemic throughout final yr’s election, which he narrowly received. Vowing to elevate the veil of secrecy, Mr. Lula has begun reviewing tons of of confidentiality seals put in place throughout Mr. Bolsonaro’s time in workplace.
“I’m going to let Brazilians know why you hide so much stuff,” Mr. Lula advised Mr. Bolsonaro throughout a debate final yr.
Separately, Mr. Bolsonaro faces a collection of investigations, together with one for spreading election misinformation and for uplifting the Jan. 8 invasion of Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential workplaces. Brazil’s electoral courtroom is predicted to rule this month on one case during which Mr. Bolsonaro is accused of abusing his workplace when he criticized Brazil’s voting system in a speech to overseas diplomats forward of final yr’s election.
He can be the topic of a number of Supreme Court inquiries, together with into his dealing with of the pandemic; accusations of spreading misinformation; and a leak of categorized data when he mentioned a hack of the nation’s election company to help his baseless claims that Brazil’s voting system is unsafe.
If convicted in any of the investigations, Mr. Bolsonaro could possibly be dominated ineligible to run for the presidency within the subsequent election.
Flávia Milhorance reported from Rio de Janeiro and Ana Ionova reported from Toronto.
Source: www.nytimes.com