Emissaries for former President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday handed over to authorities two packages of gifts presented by the Gulf nations of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, following an order by the Federal Accounts Court, an audit tribunal that operates under the umbrella of Congress.
Justice Minister Flávio Dino confirmed on Twitter that a pistol and a rifle given to Mr. Bolsonaro by a prince of the United Arab Emirates had been delivered to the Federal Police. Separately, the federal bank Caixa confirmed in an email to The Brazilian Report that it received today a box of jewelry given to Mr. Bolsonaro by the Saudi government.
The Federal Accounts Court has also ruled that Mr. Bolsonaro and one of his former cabinet ministers must testify in the case. There’s no date set yet for that to happen.
Earlier this month, newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo revealed that a Brazilian delegation led by then-Mines and Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque returned from Saudi Arabia in October 2021 with a case containing a necklace, a watch, a pair of earrings, and a ring, as well as a golden horse sculpture approximately 30 centimeters long. The jewelry case alone was valued at more than USD 3 million.
Although customs confiscated this larger jewelry case at Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo, Mr. Bolsonaro received a second Saudi government-donated case of jewelry made by Swiss company Chopard, valued at approximately USD 76,000.
This second case was stored at the Mines and Energy Ministry for more than a year and handed over to Mr. Bolsonaro in late November 2022, after he lost his re-election bid. This is the case that his staffers returned today.
Jair Bolsonaro left Brazil on December 30 to avoid the swearing-in of his opponent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and has been residing in Florida ever since.
Former Bolsonaro staffers, including Senator Jorge Seif, on Friday said that the former president will return to Brazil on March 30, on the eve of Brazil’s 1964 military coup celebrations. Mr. Bolsonaro has repeatedly postponed plans to return to Brazil.
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