Ultimatum to Jair Bolsonaro: Five days to return jewels | The story behind the gift of the Saudi monarchy

Former President Jair Bolsonaro must return a package of $100,000 worth of jewelry to the nation of origin in the next five days. He was gifted by the Saudi monarchy and smuggled into the country in October 2021. It was settled by the Brazilian Court of Accounts, which dominated the Brazilian agenda for three weeks.

This – the newspaper revealed last week Estado- A necklace, a ring, a watch and a pair of earrings (for 3.5 million reais) were found in the backpack of an adviser to Bento, then Minister of Mines and Energy, at the Cuarulhos airport in Sao Paulo. Albuquerque was returning from an official trip to the Middle East. Among the “gifts” he received from the United Arab Emirates was a rifle and a pistol.

“They’re accusing me of a gift I didn’t ask for or receive. There was no illegality on my part,” Bolsonaro told CNN Brazil last week, referring to the gift to his wife, Michelle. He made these statements from the United States two days before Lula da Silva was to receive the presidential invitation.

Based on Bolsonaro’s confession, he confessed to the kidnapping. The Court of Accounts ordered an audit of the entire presidential file on gifts received by the former president.

Bolsonaro’s claims are backed up by claims made at the time by Admiral Albuquerque, who appeared to have filmed the jewels as belonging to then-first lady Michelle Bolsonaro. However, the military backed down on Tuesday before the Court of Accounts and maintained that it was for the Brazilian presidency..

Following the scandal, a Senate committee opened an investigation to determine whether the Saudi monarchy bribed Bolsonaro, allegedly linked to the privatization of Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras refinery in favor of the United Arab Emirates. Emirates Investment Fund.

As revealed, Bolsonaro He sent his aide-de-camp and tried eight times with various pressures to remove the jewels from customs to deliver them to him, but the agents refused the request, arguing that they should be declared as originating in the country.