Federal Police launch new stage in Bolsonaro fake vaccination probe
Federal Police on Thursday launched a second operation as part of an investigation against former President Jair Bolsonaro and some of his allies for defrauding public records in 2022 to produce fake Covid vaccination certificates.
In a typically brief statement, the Federal Police announced they executed two search and seizure warrants — requested by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and authorized by the Supreme Court — in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias.
News outlet G1 reported that the targets of today’s operation were Washington Reis, currently Rio Janeiro’s transportation secretary, and Célia Serrano, Duque de Caxias’s municipal health secretary.
Both are mentioned in a Federal Police report from March 2024 on the case. Mr. Reis was the mayor of Duque de Caxias until early 2022, and Ms. Serrano is shown to have ordered city clerks to falsify public vaccine records.
The first stage of the investigation began in May 2023, when authorities raided one of Mr. Bolsonaro’s homes (among multiple addresses) and arrested six people, including Army Lieutenant-Colonel Mauro Cid, a military officer who served as his aide-de-camp.
The investigation revealed that Lt.-Col. Cid’s cell phone and a computer at the presidential palace were used in 2022 to create digital copies of a fraudulent Covid vaccination certificate in Mr. Bolsonaro’s name. Mr. Bolsonaro has told the Federal Police he never received a Covid shot.
The fake certificates could have allowed Mr. Bolsonaro, a known Covid and vaccine denialist, to travel abroad or enter places requiring vaccination. In 2021, while on a trip to speak at the United Nations, Mr. Bolsonaro famously ate pizza on the street in New York to avoid showing a vaccine certificate to enter a restaurant.
After four months in jail, Lt.-Col. Cid agreed to a plea bargain, which proved fruitful to other investigations — including one into a coup plot quarterbacked by Mr. Bolsonaro and a scheme to smuggle jewelry gifted to the Brazilian government by Saudi Arabia.
In March this year, the Federal Police requested that Mr. Bolsonaro and others be prosecuted for the fake Covid vaccination scandal. The Federal Prosecution Office will decide whether to pursue the indictment.
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