Bolsonaro home searched as Brazil probes fake vaccine cards

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil's Federal Police searched former President Jair Bolsonaro's home and seized his phone Wednesday in what they said was an investigation into alleged falsification of COVID-19 vaccine cards.

Several other locations also were searched and a half-dozen people faced arrest, police said.

The president confirmed the search on his residence while speaking with reporters, as did his wife Michelle on her Inst gram account. She said her phone wasn't seized, contrary to media reports.

A federal police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person wasn't authorised to speak publicly, said that Bolsonaro will be deposed at Federal Police headquarters and confirmed that one of his closest allies, Mauro Cid, was arrested.

Asked about the search of Bolsonaro's home, the Federal Police's press office provided a statement saying officers were carrying out 16 searches and six arrests in Rio de Janeiro related to the introduction of fraudulent data related to the COVID-19 vaccine into the nation's health system. The statement didn't name Bolsonaro or Cid.

Local media reported that the vaccine cards of Bolsonaro, his advisors and his family members were altered. The police statement said the investigation focused on cards altered in order to comply with US vaccine requirements to enter the country.

“There was no adulteration on my part, it didn't happen,” Bolsonaro told reporters on Wednesday after the search. “I didn't take the vaccine, period. I never denied that.”

Bolsonaro travelled to the US at least three times since the country began generally requiring in November 2021 that non-citizens be fully vaccinated to enter — in June 2022 for the Summit of the Americas, September 2022 for the UN General Assembly and last December after he left office for a stay in Florida.

The investigation raises questions about whether falsified vaccine information might have been included in documentation for any members of the former president's entourage during those trips.

During the pandemic, Bolsonaro spent months sowing doubt about the efficacy of the vaccine and defiantly refusing to get a shot. In September 2021, that had prompted doubt about whether he would be able to attend the UN's General Assembly in New York, though he did attend.

The search adds to Bolsonaro's mounting legal headaches. Federal Police have questioned him at their Brasilia headquarters twice in the past month related to separate investigations — first, about three sets of diamond jewellery he received from Saudi Arabia and, second, regarding his potential role in sparking the January 8 uprising by his supporters in the capital.

Bolsonaro is also the subject of several investigations by Brazil's electoral court into his actions during the presidential election campaign, particularly his unsubstantiated claims that the nation's electronic voting system is susceptible to fraud. Those threaten to strip him of his political rights and render him unable to run for office in upcoming elections.

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