Brazil’s federal police have recommended criminal charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro in a scheme to falsify his Covid-19 vaccine card, in part to travel to the United States during the pandemic, in the latest sign of criminal investigations closing in on him. former president.
Federal prosecutors will now decide whether to pursue the case. If they do, it will be the first time the former president has faced criminal charges.
Brazilian police accused Mr Bolsonaro of ordering a top aide to obtain fake vaccination records for him and his daughter, 13, in late 2022, shortly before the former president traveled to Florida for a three-month stay after his electoral defeat.
Brazilian police said they were awaiting an answer from the US Justice Department on whether Mr Bolsonaro used a fake vaccination card to enter the United States, which could trigger separate criminal charges.
At the time, most international visitors to the United States had to show proof of vaccination against Covid-19 to enter the country, and a US official said even a foreign leader would have to comply with those rules.
Mr Bolsonaro has said he did not receive a Covid-19 vaccine but has denied accusations that he was involved in any scheme to falsify his vaccination records. His attorney said in a text message that he was still reviewing the charges.
If convicted of forging his vaccine card, Mr Bolsonaro could face jail time.
The federal police indictment is the first time the various criminal investigations into Mr. Bolsonaro have moved toward charges.
Mr. Bolsonaro has been questioned and investigated as part of several investigations, including the sale of watches and jewelry he received as presidential gifts from Saudi Arabia and other countries, as well as allegations that he worked with top government officials to hatch plans to try to retain power after losing the 2022 elections.
Brazil’s electoral court has already ruled Mr Bolsonaro ineligible for public office until 2030 for spreading false information about Brazil’s electoral systems on state television, forcing him to step down from the next presidential contest in 2026.
During the pandemic, Mr Bolsonaro was critical of the Covid-19 vaccine, joking that it would turn people into crocodiles and instead promoting unproven treatments such as hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug.
His government hesitated to secure vaccines when they were first distributed, exacerbating the pandemic in Brazil, according to a Brazilian congressional inquiry that recommended in 2021 that the former president be charged with “crimes against humanity,” among other charges, for the actions of the pandemic.
Prosecutors did not charge him at the time. More than 700,000 people have died in Brazil due to Covid-19, the second highest death toll nationally after the United States.
In May 2023, police searched Mr Bolsonaro’s home, seized his mobile phone and arrested one of his closest aides and two of his security guards as part of the probe into fake vaccination records.
In a complaint unsealed on Tuesday, Brazil’s federal police said records showed that Mr. Bolsonaro’s personal aide, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, and Mr. Cid’s wife used fake vaccination cards to enter the United States on 2022. Mr. Sid, who was arrested last year as part of the investigation, told police that once Mr. Bolsonaro discovered Mr. Sid had a fake vaccine, he ordered the aide to get him one too, police said .
Police said records showed that on December 21, 2022, an official in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro then entered false records into the city’s health database that Mr. Bolsonaro and his daughter had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. for Covid-19 earlier. year. Police said that during one of the two dates on which records indicated Mr. Bolsonaro received a vaccine, the former president was not in the Rio de Janeiro suburb.
Besides Mr. Sid, the police said, several other allies of the former president falsified vaccination records in a similar scheme, some of whom used the records to accompany Mr. Bolsonaro to the United States. The police also recommended charges against them.
Mr Bolsonaro spent his first three months in office living in a rented house near Disney World outside Orlando.
Mr Bolsonaro has entered the United States several other times while the country required visitors to show proof of vaccination, including attending the United Nations General Assembly and meeting President Biden in Los Angeles, although those trips 2022 preceded the scheme described by investigators for tampering. vaccine records.
In 2021, Mr Bolsonaro, who was perhaps the only unvaccinated world leader at the UN General Assembly, opened proceedings with a speech saying Brazil would not require anyone to be vaccinated. He added that he had recovered from Covid-19 using “off-label” drugs.
“History and science will hold everyone accountable,” he said.
During this trip, he and his entourage had difficulty entering New York restaurants that required proof of vaccination. Instead, he posted a photo of his team eating pizza on the sidewalk. Mr Bolsonaro’s health minister, who was pictured biting into a slice of pizza, tested positive for Covid-19 hours after attending UN meetings.
Flávia Milhorance contributed to the report from Rio de Janeiro and Paulo Motoryn from Brasilia.
