Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) opened an account at BB Americas, a subsidiary of Banco do Brasil in the United States, in December 2022, and sent there 75% of all funds in the account that he declared to the TSE (Supreme Court Elitoral) when registering his candidacy for re-election last year.
In all, Bolsonaro told the electoral court that he had R$907,000 in two different accounts. In the first, the balance amounted to 315.8 thousand Brazilian riyals, in the second 591 thousand Brazilian riyals, and the last one was 92.57 thousand Brazilian riyals. According to his lawyer, he sent $135,000 USD to this account abroad, which is equivalent to R$675,000.
sought, Attorney Fabio Wajngarten, who is acting in Bolsonaro’s defence, reports that the transfer was legal, electronic, via the central bank, and that it was paid because Bolsonaro did not trust the management of the economy carried out by President Lula’s government (PT).
At a press conference last week, lawyer Paulo Bueno acknowledged the existence of the account and also stated that the operation was legal. He added, “This transfer was made from the president’s account in the central bank to an account also known as the president in the United States. It is believed that the current government will not manage the economy well. All the money has been transferred through the central bank.” , He said.
The account was discovered in the course of federal police investigations into the vaccination card fraud of Bolsonaro and his advisers. Bolsonaro’s former aide, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, was arrested in Operation Virén, on May 3, on suspicion of forging vaccination cards for the former president and his family.
