brazil newspaper Oh Globo revealed On Wednesday, the country’s prosecutors announced they were pursuing Jair Renan Bolsonaro, 25, the youngest son of the former president with the same name, on charges of money laundering and fraud.
A lawyer for the young Bolsonaro appeared to admit the charges in a statement to the newspaper. Globo– The affiliated G1 news organization disputed that the details of the case were inappropriately leaked to the media, which had a “very negative impact on the image of the defense, due process, the presumption of innocence, and by extension those who have the right to defend themselves.” chanted. ”
brazil newspaper Estadao Independently Confirmed Criminal case. According to media reports, prosecutors filed documents to indict Jair Renan Bolsonaro on March 15, and the case was referred to a federal court.
News of the indictment against Bolsonaro’s youngest son emerged a day after Bolsonaro himself was indicted on charges of conspiracy and inserting false data into the government’s public health system. Prosecutors say Bolsonaro and 16 others took part in a conspiracy to give Bolsonaro and his 12-year-old daughter Laura fake coronavirus vaccination cards in late 2022, allowing them to enter the United States. accused as. Bolsonaro, Laura and his wife Michelle Bolsonaro visited Florida shortly after the defeat of the current president, convicted convict Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in the 2022 presidential election. Ta.
Bolsonaro also faces several other criminal charges, including for allegedly plotting a “coup” against Lula and for being involved in a riot in Brasilia on January 8, 2023, against Lula’s bid for a third term in office. facing. Opponents of the inauguration argued that Lula, a convicted felon, should never have been allowed to run for president. Lula was forced to take part in the vote after the country’s highest court, the Supreme Federal Court (STF), overturned several of his convictions on procedural grounds and failed to provide evidence of his innocence. approved.
FILE/Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (R) gestures next to his son Jair Renan Bolsonaro during the launch of his new party, Alliance for Brazil, at a hotel in Brasilia on November 21, 2019. (EVARISTO SA/AFP via Getty Images)
according to Oh Globo, the charges against Jair Renan Bolsonaro stem from his event planning business, RB Eventos E Mídia. Prosecutors allege that the younger Bolsonaro artificially inflated his company’s earnings, falsely claiming that he earned 4.6 million Brazilian reals (about $923,000) in one year.
Prosecutors say the false profits allowed his company to fraudulently secure three bank loans. The lawsuit also alleges that Jair Renan Bolsonaro had business dealings with his companies, including a person named Antonio Amancio Alves Mandallari, owner of the ‘ghost’ company Mandallari Aesthetic Clinic. He was accused of fabricating “ghost” people and companies. Prosecutors say neither Alves Mandallari nor the company exists.
In contrast to Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest sons, who have pursued careers in public office, Jair Renan has had little to do with politics. He gained attention in May 2020 when he was banned from video game streaming platform Twitch for telling his fellow players not to support Wuhan coronavirus lockdown measures.
Former President Bolsonaro loudly opposed the closure of businesses and schools in the early days of the pandemic, and later began publicly opposing new vaccine products that have emerged to stop the spread of the disease. His indictment, which surfaced Tuesday, relates to such coronavirus protocols, with prosecutors alleging that he and his daughter Laura took coronavirus vaccine products when neither of them had. He is accused of having a close aide issue documents making the allegations. Bolsonaro did not immediately comment on the charges this week, but his comments in May followed a police raid on his former aides for evidence in the case, in which he claimed he had ingested a vaccine product. He denied that he had ever done so.
“I have never been asked for a vaccination card anywhere. There is no tampering on my part,” Bolsonaro told reporters at the time. “No way. I didn’t get the vaccine and that’s it. I never denied it. Some people pressured me to get the vaccine. Yes, it’s natural. Having read the Pfizer “leaflet”, I decided not to take it.
“My wife’s vaccine card was also photographed and she received the Janssen vaccine in the US. [Johnson & Johnson]. And my other daughter, Laura (12 years old), also did not receive the vaccine. She has a medical report on it,” Bolsonaro claimed.
FILE/President Bolsonaro’s son Jair Renan Bolsonaro takes part in a protest in support of gun rights and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia, Brazil, July 9, 2022. (Mateusz Bonomi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The administration of leftist President Joe Biden was still enforcing a ban on foreign nationals entering the United States unless they had proof they had taken coronavirus vaccination products during Bolsonaro’s visit in late 2022. The ban made international headlines for halting the spread of the virus worldwide. Novak Djokovic, the top men’s tennis player of his time, was able to participate in some of the world’s most prestigious tournaments held in the United States.
Jair Bolsonaro could face up to 12 years in prison over the vaccine card scandal. Lula’s government also banned him from holding public office until 2030. launched Police raided the former president and his supporters and confiscated their passports to prevent them from leaving the country.
“Unfortunately, Brazil is no longer a democracy,” Eduardo Bolsonaro, one of Jair Bolsonaro’s sons and a member of Brazil’s lower house of parliament, told Congress at a hearing this month.
“As I have always warned in my speeches, [Brazil’s] Tell Congress about the danger of my country turning into Cuba or Venezuela with concentration camps,” Eduardo Bolsonaro said. “Unfortunately, today I live in my own movie about concentration camps. The limits no longer exist.”
“Many other members are not here today because their passports were confiscated,” said Gustavo Geyer, another Brazilian lawmaker who attended the hearing.
“We no longer have the privilege of telling the truth, expressing our thoughts, and expressing our opinions,” Geier told his American counterpart. “All these institutions that are valuable to democracy are being kidnapped and used as instruments of repression. They only serve to arrest and oppress people for their opinions.”
