BRASILIA (Portal) – Brazilian police on Wednesday searched the home of former President Jair Bolsonaro and confiscated his cellphone as part of an investigation into his COVID-19 vaccination records.
The probe could answer questions about how Bolsonaro, a vocal coronavirus skeptic who vowed he would never receive a COVID vaccine, was listed as vaccinated in health records released in February.
Bolsonaro confirmed to journalists the raid on his home in Brasilia and reiterated that he had never taken a COVID vaccine. He denied any role in the alleged forgery of documents.
“For my part, nothing was faked. I didn’t take the vaccine. Period,” he said, adding that his phone was confiscated.
The vaccination probe is one of many bringing pressure on the former far-right leader, including investigations into alleged voter suppression, attacks on the legitimacy of Brazilian elections and embezzlement of foreign gifts.
Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing in these cases.
[1/2] Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro leaves his home after a search operation in Brasilia, Brazil, May 3, 2023. Portal/Adriano Machado
Federal police said in a statement that they had served 16 search warrants and six precautionary arrest warrants in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro as part of the operation, but had not revealed the names of the targets.
Two people familiar with the investigation said police arrested Mauro Cid and Max Guilherme, personal assistants to Bolsonaro as president, who remained as his assistants when he resigned in January.
Police said they are investigating “false data” allegedly added to a national COVID-19 database between November 2021 and December 2022, when Bolsonaro was president.
“As a result, they were able to issue vaccination certificates and use them to circumvent restrictions imposed by authorities in Brazil and the United States,” police said.
The investigation points to “ideological” reasons for circumventing vaccination rules, police said, “in order to keep the discourse of an attack on vaccination against COVID-19 alive”.
“We trust that all legal doubts will be resolved and it will be proven that Bolsonaro has not committed any illegal acts,” wrote Valdemar Costa Neto, leader of Bolsonaro’s political party, on social media.
Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Steven Grattan
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