Police raid Jair Bolsonaro in probe over faked vax certifications

The former Brazilian president denied he and his inner circle to dodge Covid-19 restrictions.

A police vehicle on Wednesday leaves the condominium where Jair Bolsonaro lives in Brasilia. Picture: AFP

Police in Brazil have searched former president Jair Bolsonaro’s home and seized his mobile phone, investigating allegations the right-wing vaccine sceptic and his inner circle falsified Covid-19 vaccination certificates to dodge health restrictions.

Mr Bolsonaro, who faced criticism as president for his unorthodox handling of the pandemic, denied the allegations, accusing the authorities of trying to fabricate a case against him.

“There was no falsification on my part. None,” he said outside his home in Brasilia after the early-morning raid. “I haven’t been vaccinated, period. I’m surprised... by the search and seizure operation in an ex-president’s home, trying to fabricate a case.”

The raid came after federal police said they had uncovered a scheme in which a top Bolsonaro aide, army colonel Mauro Cid, allegedly tapped a network of contacts in the health system and government to obtain fraudulent vaccination certificates for Mr Bolsonaro, the president’s daughter, himself, his wife and daughters, and two presidential aides.

Police said in a brief to the Supreme Court there was evidence Mr Bolsonaro was “fully aware” of the fraudulent entries in the health ministry’s electronic vaccination records system, which they said aimed to enable his anti-vaccine inner circle to dodge international travel requirements and other pandemic restrictions.

The raid was ordered by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, who ruled there was “plausible, logical and robust” evidence suggesting Mr Bolsonaro may have been personally involved. Police carried out 16 search-and-seizure orders and executed six arrest warrants, detaining Colonel Cid and former presidential aides Max Guilherme Machado de Moura and Sergio Rocha Cordeiro.

Mr Bolsonaro, 68, said police had also seized his phone and a handgun. The ex-army captain, who led Brazil from 2019 to 2022, defied expert advice on managing Covid-19, which has claimed more than 700,000 lives in Brazil.

As president, he touted the medication hydroxychloroquine against the disease, despite studies finding it ineffective, and joked the vaccine could “turn you into an alligator”.

The raid is the latest legal battle for Mr Bolsonaro, who faces a string of investigations by the Supreme Court and electoral authorities.

It also cast a new spotlight on his decision to leave Brazil for the US on the second to last day of his presidency, snubbing the inauguration of his leftist successor and arch rival, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Mr Bolsonaro left for the US on December 30 after losing a bitterly divisive election to Lula.

The US requires international air travellers to present proof of vaccination against Covid-19, a requirement the White House announced on Monday would end on May 11. The requirement does not apply to foreign government officials, and Mr Bolsonaro said he had not been asked to present proof of vaccination on arrival. But Mr Bolsonaro’s status as a government official expired when his term ended on December 31.

AFP