Brazil’s Bolsonaro testifies about receiving gifts of Saudi jewelry

By Bala Chambers

BUENOS AIRES (AA) - Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro met Wednesday with federal police in the capital Brasilia to give testimony on gifts of diamond jewelry he received from Saudi Arabia while in power amid in a probe into whether he illegally imported the jewelry into the country.

Bolsonaro is being investigated over allegations that he may have attempted to illegally bring $3.2 million worth of luxury jewelry into Brazil, a charge he denies.

Federal police and prosecutors are investigating whether the three sets of jewelry were public gifts that Bolsonaro improperly tried to prevent from being added to the presidency's public collection or were private gifts that he tried to bring into Brazil without paying taxes.

In a statement, Bolsonaro said he found out about the jewelry a year later but couldn’t remember who had told him, according to news outlet G1.

Bolsonaro's meeting with authorities lasted around three hours. Security was tight in the area with no demonstrations by Bolsonaro supporters, according to state news agency Agencia Brazil.

Nine other people testified Wednesday, five of them in Brasilia and four in Sao Paulo, which Metropoles reported that authorities had arranged at the same time on purpose.

In March, the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called on the authorities to investigate allegations whether Bolsonaro and his entourage may have tried to avoid declaring the expensive jewelry, which was gifted by the Saudi Arabian government to Bolsonaro and his wife Michelle in 2021.

The jewelry was seized by customs officials in October that year after being discovered in a backpack of a government aide.

Bolsonaro has denied the charges, with his lawyer Frederick Wassef insisting that the former president officially declared the items and there has been "no irregularity in his conduct."