Former President Jair Bolsonaro took a third package of jewelery given by the Saudi Arabian regime when he left office in late 2022. Stadium found that the case includes a white gold Rolex watch with diamonds.
The light wooden box, which bears the green symbol of the Saudi Arabian coat of arms, contains a Chopard pen in silver, set with stones. There is a pair of white gold cufflinks, set with a diamond in the center and more diamonds around it. The set also includes a white gold ring with a diamond in the center and others in the shape of a “baguette” around it, a “masbaha”, a type of Arab rosary, made in white gold and with pendants studded with diamonds.
The Rolex watch can be found on the internet at a price of R$ 364,000. The other items, when compared to similar pieces, total at least R$200,000. This means that this third box of gifts is valued at more than R$500,000, in the most conservative hypothesis.
The report found that this set of jewels, unlike the other two boxes sent to Bolsonaro, was received by the former president himself, when he was with his entourage on official trips to Doha, Qatar, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. between 28 and 10 October 2019.
On that occasion, Bolsonaro had lunch hosted by the Saudi king Salma Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. At the meeting, the then president said he had “a certain affinity” with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salma. According to Bolsonaro, “everyone” would like to spend an afternoon with a prince, “especially women”.
The report found that, in this case, Bolsonaro returned with the jewelry set to Brazil and ordered the items taken to his private collection, confirmed on Nov. 8, 2019 by the Presidency’s Joint Cabinet of Historical Documentation.
On that occasion, a form was filled out for the gift to the president, specifying each element of the parure. At the bottom of this description, there is a question asking if “there was an intermediary in the procedure”. The answer is no”.
A second question asks if the gift has been “seen by the president”. The answer is yes”.
The case for these jewels would remain in Bolsonaro’s private collection for more than a year and a half, until last year the then president gave new orders, this time to have the set physically in his hands. This occurred on June 6, 2022. On this date, it was recorded by the Presidency’s system that the articles were “forwarded to the office of President Jair Bolsonaro”. Two days later, on June 8, according to official records, the jewels were already “in the custody of the President of the Republic”.
The new complaint adds to other attempts by Bolsonaro to keep the jewels received from the Arab regime. As revealed the StadiumIn October 2021, Bolsonaro’s government entourage attempted to illegally enter Brazil with gifts from the Saudis, without properly declaring the goods. A gift box, already estimated at R$1 million, passed through customs undeclared by the entourage led by then Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque.
A second set of diamond jewelry, once valued at R$16.5 million, ended up being held up at customs after federal revenue auditors became suspicious of members of the entourage. These jewels, according to Albuquerque, would be gifts for the then first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro. She denied knowing about the jewels.
Bolsonaro, that, when the Stadium denounced the cases, said he was unaware of the jewels given by the Saudis, ended up refuting himself days later and acknowledged having received a package that entered Brazil illegally, being obliged to return the items, as ruled by the Court Federal Accounts. A UAE-supplied rifle and pistol were also returned. The TCU needs to check the other gifts received by the former president.
Source: Terra
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