MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro returning to Brazil on March 30

Ciro Nogueira confirmed he will be at Brasilia's airport on Thursday to welcome Bolsonaro back to the country

Former President Jair Bolsonaro will be returning to Brazil on March 30 after leaving the country in late December even before completing his 4-year term as head of state, in a move to avoid attending current President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva's Jan. 1 inauguration, it was announced.

“Bolsonaro will return to Brazil on March 30,” published Valdemar Costa, chairman of the Liberal Party (PL), under which the retired Army captain unsuccessfully ran for reelection. He is due “in Brasilia at 7.30 am local time,” Costa explained.

Senator Ciro Nogueira, one of the rightwing leader's closest allies, confirmed the news. “I spoke today with our captain and I already guaranteed him that I will be one of the first Brazilians who will be at the airport waiting for his return,” Nogueira said on social networks.

Upon his return, Bolsonaro will also have to face multiple investigations against him, including one for allegedly “inciting” his most radical followers to stage a coup d'état against Lula, on Jan. 8.

The other case involves a valuable set of jewelry that Saudi Arabia gave him, which should have been declared to customs. Through his lawyers, Bolsonaro delivered the items he received as a gift from Saudi Arabia, Agencia Brasil reported. “Weapons gifted by [a] foreign government to former Brazilian authority were returned, will be examined and secured for further procedures,” Justice Minister Flávio Dino wrote on Twitter. In 2019, the former president was given a pistol and a rifle as a gift from representatives of the Arab Emirates.

Another gift from the Saudi government, given in 2021, a case with a watch, a pen, cufflinks, a ring, and a rosary from the Swiss diamond brand Chopard were also handed over Friday at a branch of the Caixa Econômica Federal in Brasilia.

The return was a determination of the Federal Audit Court (TCU). On the last 15th, TCU Chief Justice Bruno Dantas ordered the valuables be delivered to the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic. Dantas recalled that for a gift to be incorporated into the private property of a president, it must be classified as a very personal item and be of low value.