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Federal police and prosecutors are investigating whether or not three units of knickknack introduced into the nation from Saudi Arabia have been public items that Bolsonaro improperly tried to forestall from being integrated into the presidency’s public assortment or have been non-public items that Bolsonaro tried sneak into Brazil with out paying taxes.
Brazil requires its residents arriving by aircraft from overseas to declare items price greater than $1,000 and, for any quantity above that exemption, pay a tax equal to 50% of their worth. The three units of knickknack would have been exempt from tax had they been a present from the state of Saudi Arabia to the nation of Brazil, however wouldn’t have been Bolsonaro’s to maintain.
After Bolsonaro left the Federal Police headquarters in Brazil’s capital Wednesday, it wasn’t know if he answered investigator’s questions or exercised his proper to remain silent. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing linked to the items, and stated he by no means tried to cover something.
A customs agent seized one of many units, manufactured by Swiss model Chopard and reportedly price some $3 million, at Sao Paulo’s worldwide airport in October 2021 when an adviser to the then minister for mines and vitality introduced it into the nation.
Paperwork and video footage revealed by Brazilian information retailers seem to point out supposed emissaries of Bolsonaro making a number of unsuccessful makes an attempt to retrieve the seized jewellery, up till simply days earlier than the top of his presidency.
A authorities watchdog ordered Bolsonaro to return the remaining jewellery to the state-owned Caixa Economica Federal financial institution. He returned one set on March 24. The opposite was delivered on Tuesday, Bolsonaro’s former comunications chief, Fábio Wajngarten, wrote on Twitter.
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