Police report shows former president's alleged involvement in a scheme to divert luxury items to his private property
Caroline Oliveira
Translated by: Lucas Peresin
Brasil de Fato | São Paulo (Brazil) | 14 de Agosto de 2023 às 16:44
Last week, Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) returned to the spotlight after a Federal Police (PF) report showed the former president's alleged involvement in a scheme to sell gifts received by foreign delegations, such as jewelry sets from Saudi Arabia.
The evidence led the Federal Police to ask the Federal Supreme Court (STF), last Friday, August 11, to break the tax and bank secrecy of the former representative for alleged embezzlement of jewelry and other luxury items for his private property. The value obtained from the illegal sale of official gifts may have exceeded R$1 million (approximately US$200,000)
According to the corporation, an offensive was set up to circumvent the registration of gifts within the sector responsible for cataloging the objects at the Planalto Palace. Bolsonaro's former aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, would be part of the scheme; as well as his father, retired general Mauro César Lourena; the second lieutenant of the Brazilian Army, Osmar Crivelatti, Mauro Cid's right-hand man; and former Bolsonaro family lawyer Frederick Wassef.
They were the target of an operation by the Federal Police – named Luke 12:2, in reference to the biblical verse that says "for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known." –, also triggered last Friday, August 11, with search warrants authorized by Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes. For the magistrate, there are indications that the scheme was carried out by Bolsonaro's "determination".
:: Michelle recebeu joias da Arábia em mãos e Bolsonaro conferiu pessoalmente, diz servidora ::
In a note, the Federal Police stated that "there are strong indications that those investigated used the structure of the Brazilian State to divert goods of high patrimonial value gifted by foreign authorities to the President of the Republic (...) with the intention of generating the illicit enrichment of former president Jair Bolsonaro".
The amounts obtained from the sales would have been "converted into cash and entered the personal assets of those investigated, through intermediary persons and with no use of the formal banking system, with the goal of hiding the origin, location and ownership of the values".
The Brazilian Federal Police is also sharing all details of the investigation with the FBI, the US federal police agency. This could make Jair Bolsonaro, Mauro Cid and Mauro César Lourena subject to investigations in the United States for possible financial offenses, such as money laundering and the use of bank accounts to hide illicit amounts. In addition, the FBI must conduct investigations of the companies, stores and individuals who purchased the jewelry to determine whether they were aware of the illegal origin of the pieces.
Mauro Cid's Father
In one of the attempts to sell the gifts, the face of Army General Mauro César Lourena was identified in a photo used to request an evaluation of the object in specialized stores in the United States, according to a report by the Brazilian Federal Police. When photographing a box with glass doors, the general photographed the reflection of his face. According to the Federal Police document, it was Mauro Cid himself who asked his father to send the objects to specialized stores.
The general also tried to sell gilded sculptures in the shape of a palm tree and a boat, but he was unsuccessful, as he discovered that they were not made of solid gold, but only plated with the metal. The matter was discussed between Mauro Cid and Bolsonaro's then advisor Marcelo Câmara.
"Those two pieces I brought from Brazil: that ship and that tree; they are not gold. They have gold parts, but they are not all gold. So I'm not able to sell them. There's a guy here who asked to take a closer look to see how much he can bid. I need to leave the piece there (...) so he can do the evaluation. So I'm going to do it, I'm going to leave the piece with him today." The sculptures were gifts from the government of Bahrain in 2019.
Reserve general Mauro César Lourena was director of the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) in the United States throughout Bolsonaro’s administration. In office, he received a salary of approximately R$63,000 per month (about US$12,700).
Saudi jewelry
In another audio sent to Marcelo Câmara, Mauro Cid mentions a jewelry auction that would take place on February 8, 2023, to which he would send a jewelry set containing a watch. According to the Federal Police, it is one of the jewelry sets presented to Bolsonaro by Saudi Arabia. The men's jewelry kit, consisting of a pen, a ring, a pair of cufflinks, an Arabic rosary (masbaha) and a watch, was taken by Mauro Cid to the United States on the same plane that took Jair Bolsonaro to Orlando, on December 30 of last year, on the eve of the end of his term.
As indicated on the website where the item was advertised, the starting price was US$50,000. The estimated value was in the range of approximately US$120,000 to US$140,000.

Full read: https:[url]//www.brasildefato.com.br/2023/08/14/former-brazilian-president-bolsonaro-would-have-sold-jewelry-gifted-by-foreign-governments[/url]
https://brazilian.report/liveblog/politics-insider/2023/08/11/federal-police-jewels-probe/

