This Monday, the Federal Police and the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office began investigations into the Saudi jewelry scandal. The new trouble stars Michelle and Jair Bolsonaro. The diamonds enhanced the duo’s radioactive glow. The case sparkles in an instant when the former first couple reposition themselves on stage. Bolsonaro says in Florida that his “mission” is not over. Michelle gets equipped to travel the country as a PL Woman missionary. They think they deserve the country’s attention. PF agents and prosecutors consider that they deserve questioning. Both must be called to testify during the course of the inquiry.
From a political point of view, the damage is already remarkable. The immaculate image that Michelle tries to build has become a pose with feet of clay. It became even more difficult to hear Bolsonaro talk about God, homeland and family without repressing an inner smile. Everything stinks. Valuable gifts offered by friendly countries to the Brazilian president are recorded on forms with many copies, enter Brazil as tax-free Union goods and are incorporated into the Presidency’s collection.
The millionaire treats that Saudi Arabia sent to the Bolsonaro couple took the shortcuts of informality. They landed in Brazil without formal registration, camouflaged in the luggage of advisers to the then Minister Bento Albuquerque. At customs, they took the queue of those who have “nothing to declare” to the Tax Authorities. Bolsonaro’s gifts — watch, pen, cufflink, ring and Islamic rosary — got out of hand. The package destined for Michelle, with jewelry valued at R$ 16.5 million, was retained by tax authorities.
Caught by the x-ray machine, intermediaries and authorities behaved like kids playing in the mud after a shower. They poured soft talk into official communiqués as if they were throwing mud on the walls. If it stuck, the jewels would have become Bolsonaro’s private property. As it didn’t stick, the gifts became a police case. Another. Bolsonaro and his operatives managed to give the Saudi gifts an appearance of bribery.
