BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian federal police accuse former president Jair Bolsonaro of receiving large sums of money without apparent justification between March of 2023 and February of 2024, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, potentially adding to the embattled former leader’s legal woes.
Investigators say Brazil’s financial watchdog suspects it has a case of money laundering involving Bolsonaro, who in early September will face the verdict and sentencing phase of his trial over an alleged coup plot. The former president could face another trial if the attorney general decides to charge him on accusations of obstruction of justice.
Bolsonaro did not immediately comment on the latest accusation but in the past has claimed he is being persecuted politically by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
New documents add to legal woes
The new documents added to a 170-page long obstruction-of-justice investigation allege Bolsonaro received more than 30 million Brazilian reais ($5 million), most of it without apparent justification, along with debits of almost the same amount during that period. He was president from Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2022.
The AP had access to the documents, which were sent to the country’s Supreme Court. Much of the information of the financial watchdog comes from state-run bank Banco do Brasil.
Almost 20 million reais ($3.48 million) allegedly came from more than 1.2 million direct transactions called PIX. Bolsonaro spent a similar amount on investments during the period. The documents also showed that the former president spent money on wire transfers, payment of deposit slips, withdrawals and exchange operations.
Brazil’s federal police say in the new documents that Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo used “several maneuvers to dissimulate the origin and destination of financial resources, with the aim of financing and supporting activities of illegal nature of the lawmaker (Eduardo Bolsonaro) living abroad.”
Earlier, Bolsonaro’s lawyers said they were surprised by the federal police’s decision to formally accuse him of obstruction of justice.
Bolsonaro considered asylum in Argentina
The federal police investigation revealed on Wednesday that Bolsonaro considered seeking political asylum in Argentina last year and that he continued to communicate with allies in recent weeks despite precautionary measures that now force him to be under house arrest.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case, told Bolsonaro’s lawyers late on Wednesday that they had 48 hours to explain why the former president was not complying with measures established for his house arrest order.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers denied any wrongdoing in that case.
“There was never noncompliance with any precautionary measure previously imposed,” the lawyers said in a statement, in which they added they will clarify Bolsonaro’s recent actions to de Moraes in a timely fashion.
Also on Thursday, one of Bolsonaro’s lawyers said in a TV interview that the former president never seriously considered seeking political asylum in Argentina. Paulo Cunha Bueno told TV GloboNews that Bolsonaro received “every kind of suggestion” as the investigations on him went forward.
“Someone sent him that asylum request in February of 2024. He could have gone, but he did not. He didn’t want it and he was neither in house arrest nor in ankle monitoring. He had every condition to flee and he did not,” Cunha said.
Bolsonaro claimed in a 33-page document to Milei he was being politically persecuted in Brazil, documents obtained by federal police show. Both are staunch supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has recently repeated some of the former president’s claims in his decision to impose 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports.
Bolsonaro had his passport seized by Brazil’s Supreme Court in on Feb. 8, 2024. He has repeatedly sought to get it back, including prior to Trump’s inauguration earlier this year. De Moraes rejected all requests as the former president is seen as a flight risk.
Manuel Adorni, spokesperson for Milei, said the Argentine government hasn’t received anything yet.
A verdict and sentence in the coup trial will come from a Supreme Court panel of five justices. They are scheduled to announce their rulings between Sept. 2 and 12. The new findings will not be part of that decision.
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