Brazil prosecutor general decides not to charge Bolsonaro for vaccine records fraud

BRASILIA – Brazil Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet decided not to charge former President Jair Bolsonaro with fraud in his vaccination records, asking the Supreme Court to throw out the case, a document showed on Thursday.

Mr. Gonet said he could not press charges against Bolsonaro based only on allegations from a plea-bargain deal with a former presidential aide, arguing he needed more evidence to support any charges.

A legal representative from Mr. Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The former president had previously denied any wrongdoing.

The move comes a day after a Supreme Court panel voted to put Bolsonaro on trial as part of another case, in which he is accused of allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government after he lost the 2022 election.

Brazil Federal Police had formally accused Bolsonaro last year of fraud on his vaccination records. Police said his former aide Mauro Cid fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccination records for Bolsonaro and his daughter Laura at the request of the then-president.

The police said they found the fraudulent certificates were issued “to obtain undue advantages related to the evasion of sanitary rules established during the pandemic period.“

Mr. Gonet argued in Thursday’s decision that accusations of fraud in vaccine records against Bolsonaro were based only on Cid’s plea-bargain deal.

This plea-bargain deal is also part of the coup attempt charges against Bolsonaro, but Mr. Gonet said that he decided to press charges in that case in February because other evidence backed the allegations.

Mr. Gonet still has to decide on another police probe targeting Mr. Bolsonaro, in which he is accused of embezzling jewelry gifted by the Saudi government.

Mr. Bolsonaro is barred by Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court from running for public office until 2030 over his efforts to discredit the country’s voting system. – Reuters