The Brazilian authorities conducted a search at the vacation residence of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro in connection with an ongoing probe into an alleged illicit surveillance operation that occurred during his tenure as a far-right leader.
According to reports, federal police officers arrived at Bolsonaro’s family residence in Mambucaba, a charming coastal village located 126 miles west of Rio, in the early hours of Monday morning. Nine search warrants were carried out in various locations across the country.
The former president was residing at the residence with his three sons, who are all involved in politics – Carlos, Eduardo, and Flávio Bolsonaro. However, according to reports, they had already left the house earlier in the day. Some local media sources stated that the Bolsonaros had escaped by boat, but the president’s lawyer, Fabio Wajngarten, claimed that they had gone fishing at 5am, “long before receiving any information” about the operation.
The primary focus was on Carlos, the second son of the former president, whose offices at Rio’s city hall and beachfront residence in western Rio were also investigated.
According to GloboNews, the police conducted the raids due to their suspicion that 41-year-old Carlos, who is a close confidant of his father, received illegal intelligence material from his father’s ex-intelligence chief, Alexandre Ramagem.
Last Thursday, Ramagem’s residence and work premises were searched by police as part of a probe into unauthorized surveillance. He is being accused of being part of a “criminal group” that utilized spy technology from Israel to monitor Bolsonaro’s opponents while he was in charge of Brazil’s intelligence agency, Abin. It is also suspected that individuals from a “parallel” intelligence agency may have produced information to benefit the Bolsonaro family. Ramagem has refuted these allegations, stating that they are an effort to harm his political future and the right-wing Bolsonarista movement.
Bolsonaro, who has not yet issued a statement about the raid on his son’s house that took place on Monday, referred to last week’s operation against Ramagem as “unrelenting persecution”.
One of the top supporters of Brazil’s present leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Gleisi Hoffmann, referred to the accusations of surveillance as “one of the biggest scandals in Brazilian history”.
On social media, Paulo Pimenta, the communications minister for Lula, stated that using the government’s resources to target political opponents and protect the wrongdoings of allies is a characteristic of dictatorships.
Carlos Bolsonaro, a Rio councillor and social media whiz, is one of the most high-profile and pugnacious figures within the world of Bolsonarismo, famed for his ferocious and often enigmatic attacks on X against his father’s political opponents.
In a public statement of their proximity, Carlos travelled to his father’s 2019 inauguration in the presidential Rolls-Royce, alongside Bolsonaro’s wife, Michelle Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro calls Carlos “my pitbull”.
Search warrants were carried out on Monday in Salvador, the capital Brasília, and the nearby city of Formosa. According to a source from the federal police, a computer belonging to Abin was confiscated. Carlos Bolsonaro has not yet made a statement regarding the operation.
The federal police released a statement stating that they are investigating a criminal group that infiltrated Abin with the intent to unlawfully monitor government officials and individuals. The raids conducted on Monday were aimed at identifying the key members of this group and determining who received and benefited from the illegally obtained information within Abin. The statement also mentioned that those under investigation could face charges such as unauthorized access to computer devices, interception of communications without a court order, and involvement in a criminal organization.
The events that occurred on Monday have created even more uncertainty about Bolsonaro’s political future. In the previous year, he was prohibited from running for office until 2030 due to his dissemination of false information about Brazil’s electoral system.
The 68-year-old leader, known for his populist views, is currently under investigation for his actions during his time as the president of the largest democracy in South America. These investigations involve his response to the Covid pandemic, which resulted in the deaths of over 700,000 Brazilians, and his alleged involvement in inciting the riot in Brasília on January 8, 2023, which has been labeled as an attempted coup by Lula’s government.
Source: theguardian.com
