The Covid hearings’ gamble to get Flávio Bolsonaro

Since the Senate’s Covid inquiry began digging into the Covaxin vaccine scandal, President Jair Bolsonaro and his entourage have tried their best to muffle the case. Back in February, the Health Ministry signed a USD 300 million contract — riddled with irregularities — to purchase 20 million doses of the Indian-made immunizer. 

With suspicions regarding unit price, delivery dates, and a payment to a shell corporation in Singapore, the government canceled the deal as soon as the scandal came to light. “I guess they invented virtual corruption, right? We haven’t gotten a dose nor have we paid a dime for them,” Mr. Bolsonaro told supporters.

Indeed, the government has not spent anything to purchase Covaxin vaccines. But the sale only fell through after a senior Health Ministry official and his congressman brother made contractual misgivings public and complained they had been coerced by powerful government forces to push the deal through.

The case is giving the president sleepless nights. His House whip Ricardo Barros is already at the center of the scandal, and the Senate’s hearings committee is now targeting the president’s eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

Renan Calheiros looking for Ws

To get at Flávio, the committee’s rapporteur, Senator Renan Calheiros, is turning his attention toward two lawyers which could lead the investigation to the president’s son: Frederick Wassef and Willer Tomaz. The duo, known within the government as W&W, is believed to have been involved in behind-the-scenes Covaxin negotiations on Flávio Bolsonaro’s behalf.

Willer Tomaz — the first and most powerful of the Ws — has a long...