Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro of São Paulo state, the third-eldest son of President Jair Bolsonaro, was allocated BRL 9.5 million (USD 1.8 million) in opaque budgetary grants, which are known as the “secret budget.” Most of these resources were used to fund construction projects in his state.
The Brazilian Report showed last year that the use of these grants to pour money into local constituencies skewed the 2020 municipal elections in favor of political groups that had access to the funds — and allies of the government hope they will have a similar effect in 2022.
Eduardo Bolsonaro’s name is on a list containing the names of 404 lawmakers who received the grants, which the Senate sent to the Supreme Court. Congressman Bolsonaro reportedly allocated the funds to projects in 25 cities, including some in Vale do Ribeira, where the Bolsonaro clan is originally from — and where some relatives of the presidential family still run businesses.
The Senate’s decision to produce a list with all the funds allocated to members of congress is in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling, which ordered that all the payments from the ‘secret budget’ be made public. The document, though, comes almost two months later than the March 17 deadline.
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