MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian magistrate says Bolsonaro may not wear or use Arabian jewels

Justice Nardes is known to be close to Bolsonaro

A magistrate from Brazil's Court of Audit (TCU) Thursday banned former President Jair Bolsonaro from wearing and selling jewelry worth R$ 400,000 (around US$ 77,430) brought from Saudi Arabia which the once head of state allegedly admitted having received.

Justice Augusto Nardes thus acquiesced to a request from TCU Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lucas Furtado.

In a decision published late Thursday, Nardes determined that the former president must preserve “intact, as the trustee, until further resolution of this court of accounts, refraining from using, disposing or disposing of any piece from the collection of jewelry subject of the process under examination.”

CNN reported this week that Bolsonaro admitted having incorporated into his personal collection a box containing a wristwatch, a pair of cufflinks, a pen, a ring, and a kind of rosary. The former president has not yet spoken publicly about the case.

In addition to this box, there are other items also received as gifts from the Arab government, such as a necklace, a ring, a watch, and a pair of diamond earrings, which are still in the possession of the Federal Revenue Service.

Acting as rapporteur in this case, Nardes also ordered investigations to verify whether the Federal Police and the Federal Revenue Service acted adequately in the investigation of the facts and whether these bodies suffered internal pressure from the previous government. The TCU is investigating the former president for attempting to illegally receive jewelry with a total estimated value of about € 3 million.

“The Federal Audit Court reports that, in relation to the process that deals with [...] regarding evidence of irregularities affecting the attempted entry into the country of jewelry worth a total of 3 million euros, adopted the necessary measures for the sanitation of the records by conducting diligence to the Federal Police and the IRS, as well as hearing of responsible Jair Messias Bolsonaro and Bento Albuquerque, through the order of the Rapporteur, Minister Augusto Nardes,” said the TCU.

Nardes is known to be linked to Bolsonaro, which is why Senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO) asked TCU Chief Justice Bruno Dantas to remain suspicious of the case's rapporteur.

In late November, Nardes asked for a five-day leave of absence from the TCU after the release of WhatsApp audios. In the recordings, he said that there was “a very strong movement happening in the barracks” and there would be a “very strong unraveling in the Nation,” in reference to the anti-democratic demonstrations at the doors of barracks after Bolsonaro's defeat at the polls.

As soon as the recordings were leaked, Nardes' advisors released a note in which they stated that the minister repudiated antidemocratic demonstrations and regretted the interpretation of the audio directed to a group of friends.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)