Alkmin says Bolsonaro’s jewelry is “barbaric” and that “reality trumps fiction”

Renato Machado
Brazil D.F

Vice-President Geraldo Alkmin (PSB) this Monday evening (13) criticized the outbreak of a jewelry case sent by Saudi Arabia involving former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), declaring it “barbarism”.

“It is barbarism. Reality trumps fiction,” the vice president succinctly replied when asked about the report at the exit of an event in Brazil.

On Monday evening (13), Alkmin took part in the closing cocktail of the first day of the Congress of the National Front of Mayors.

The vice president had yet to comment on the case of jewelry sent by the Saudi Arabian government to former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, according to initial reports from those involved.

In October 2021, then Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque led a delegation to an international event in Saudi Arabia. On his return, the adviser to the then minister seized a collection of luxury items at Guarulhos (SP) airport, including a necklace, earrings, ring and watch by the Swiss brand Chopard, newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo. The value of these facilities was estimated at 16.5 million rials.

The second case entered the country without an income declaration and was included in Bolsonaro’s personal collection, as revealed by Folha de S. Paulo. It contained a watch, a pen, cufflinks, a kind of rosary and a ring, also of the Swiss brand Chopard. There is no estimated value for this second package.

The Federal Department of Revenue has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the entry into Brazil of this second set of jewelry sent by the Saudi Arabian government through an entourage.

This package was not intercepted by tax auditors at Guarulhos airport and, according to an official receipt accessed by the report, it was delivered to the Presidency last November to compile Bolsonaro’s personal file.

In the note, the Revenue noted that “it will take appropriate measures within its jurisdiction to clarify and comply with customs legislation, without contradicting the analysis and clarification regarding the destination of the product.”

Also this Monday (13), Bolsonaro sent a letter to the Federal Police saying he was available to testify to the agency on the case of the jewels sent by Saudi Arabia and asked the TCU (Court of Audit of the Union) to keep it. the articles until the end of the investigation.

The former president’s defense argued that he made the decision in the light of news published in the press, “not even being able to confirm the authenticity of the information, because he did not receive any subpoena or was officially aware, except. with press machines”.