Brazil's federal police on Friday alleged former President Jair Bolsonaro received cash from the nearly US$70,000 sale of two luxury watches he received as gifts from Saudi Arabia while in office, posing another potential blow for the embattled far-right leader.
Earlier in the day, officers raided the homes and offices of several people purportedly involved in the case, including a four-star army general. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing involving the gifts.
Brazil requires its citizens arriving by plane from abroad to declare goods worth more than US$1,000 and, for any amount above that exemption, pay a tax equal to 50% of their value. The jewelry would have been exempt from tax had it been a gift from Saudi Arabia to Brazil, but would not have been Bolsonaro's to keep.
According to the investigation, Bolsonaro's aide, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, in June 2022 sold to a store in the U.S. a Rolex watch and a Patek Philippe watch given as a gift by the government of Saudi Arabia in 2019 for a total of US$68,000, the judge's order said. The money was allegedly transferred to the bank account of Cid's father the same day.
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