Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro accused of having benefited from a “fake” anti-Covid vaccine certificate

Brazilian federal police formally accused former president Jair Bolsonaro of fraud on his vaccination recordpaving the way for criminal prosecution, according to a police report.

The prosecution must now decide whether to press charges. In total, police are investigating 17 suspects. These would have introduced false vaccination data into the database. Those of Jair Bolsonaro, his daughter Laura and his ex-aide-de-camp Mauro Cid would have been falsified.

Falsification made it possible to issue a vaccination certificate to a person who was not vaccinated, in order to circumvent travel restrictions in Brazil and the United States, for example.

“Regarding the vaccination carried out in Sao Paulo – the only document which appears in the vaccination record of the ex-president – ​​(…) the conclusion is that it is a fraud of the registration system of vaccinations against Covid-19″said the supervisory body.

Case closed, “lack of sufficient information”

The controller, however, recommends closing the case, “lack of sufficient information” to find those responsible. He in fact noted that a number of civil servants could enter false data, having access to the vaccination computer system. This investigation notably aimed to determine whether federal officials had falsified Jair Bolsonaro’s vaccination record.

700,000 victims in Brazil

During his term, Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly downplayed the importance of vaccination and social distancing measures during the pandemic, which has claimed more than 700,000 lives in Brazil.

Jair Bolsonaro has already been declared politically ineligible until 2030 for spreading false information during the 2022 elections. Police recently seized his passport as part of an investigation into his actions following his election defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Last week, the former heads of the Brazilian Army and Air Force said that Jair Bolsonaro had discussed a draft decree aimed at preventing the transfer of power after the election.