Center of vaccine scandal has close ties to key government figures

Roberto Dias, the Health Ministry’s former logistics director, is testifying before the Senate’s Covid hearings committee today. Implicated in corruption scandals concerning vaccine purchases made by the government and fired after allegations of his involvement in a cash-for-jabs scheme, he is surrounded by circumstantial evidence linking him to influential politicians within the Bolsonaro administration.

Investigators suspect that these links allowed Mr. Dias to remain in government after a turbulent year for the Health Ministry and irregularities found in a contract he signed to purchase Covid-19 tests. Not only did Mr. Dias keep his job, but President Jair Bolsonaro also nominated him for a board seat on Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa.

During today’s deposition at the Covid inquiry, senators are expected to grill Mr. Dias on the events of February 25, when he allegedly demanded a USD 1 per dose bribe on the purchase of 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine offered by a military police officer who claimed to represent U.S. firm Davati Medical Supply. The whistleblower, in that case, appeared before the Senate’s hearings committee last week.

Mr. Dias joined the government at the...