Mauro Cid, Jair Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp, claimed to the Brazilian Federal Police through a plea bargain statement unsealed on Wednesday that Bolsonaro allegedly received $86,000 in cash for the sale of Saudi jewelry that he received as gifts while he was president of Brazil.
Cid’s plea bargain was unsealed by Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Wednesday.
The jewelry, which Cid claimed Bolsonaro “ordered” him to sell, was received by the conservative former president as gifts from the Saudi government in 2021 and is part of an ongoing case against Bolsonaro.
Brazil’s Federal Police indicted Bolsonaro, Cid, and others in July on charges of embezzlement, criminal association, and money laundering. The police accused Bolsonaro of misappropriating the set of jewelry gifted by the government of Saudi Arabia. According to the police, Bolsonaro failed to declare the jewelry, reportedly valued at $3.2 million, as state assets for their subsequent incorporation into the state-owned presidential collection as per Brazilian law.
Local Brazilian media reported on Wednesday that Cid, in his recently unsealed plea bargain statement, claimed that Bolsonaro ordered him to sell some of the Saudi-gifted jewelry in 2022. Cid claimed that he sold two luxury Rolex and Patek Philippe watches in Philadelphia for $68,000. Additionally, Cid claimed that he sold some of the jewelry in Miami for $18,000. Both sales allegedly amounted to $86,000.
The sales, Cid claimed, were all conducted in cash so as to avoid any type of banking transaction trail. Cid reportedly detailed that some of the $86,000 was given to Bolsonaro in several installments between 2022 and 2023 — with his father, Mauro Cesar Lourena Cid, acting as an intermediary in some of the transfers. Cid further claimed that he discounted his flight and car rental expenses from the final amount that Bolsonaro allegedly received.
The Rolex watch and jewelry were reportedly chosen for sale by Cid himself after Bolsonaro allegedly asked him to identify which objects could be easier to sell. Cid claimed Bolsonaro gave him the Patek Phillipe watch in his plea bargain statements.
Cid reportedly asserted that Bolsonaro was “complaining” in early 2022 about litigation payments from a now-archived lawsuit filed by Brazilian leftist politician Maria do Rosário against Bolsonaro, who accused the former president of insulting her in 2014.
The former aide-de-camp also claimed that Bolsonaro was complaining about other costs such as traffic fines for not wearing a helmet on motorcycles. Cid reportedly suggested that the sale of the items was meant to offset said expenses.
Cid allegedly justified his actions by claiming that he received guidance from Brazil’s Deputy Office of Historical Documentation, which allegedly informed him the sold items were part of Bolsonaro’s personal collection and not part of the presidential collection.
De Moraes argued Wednesday that confidentiality on Cid’s plea bargain deal was no longer needed in light of Prosecutor General of Brazil Paulo Gonet filing criminal charges against Bolsonaro on Tuesday in a separate case stemming from accusations that Bolsonaro allegedly led a “criminal organization” to poison radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Cid was reportedly listed as the coup case’s “whistleblower” at the time Brazil’s Federal Police indicted Bolsonaro.
On Thursday, de Moraes reportedly unsealed the videos and audio recordings of Cid’s plea bargain process.
The Saudi jewelry probe originally began in March 2023, two months after the end of Bolsonaro’s presidential term. According to the probe’s initial proceedings, the Saudi jewelry was brought over to Brazil in October 2021 by former Energy and Mines Minister Bento Albuquerque after an official trip to Riyadh.
Brazilian customs authorities reportedly seized some of the jewelry after Albuquerque failed to pay the required import duty fees. Bolsonaro denied any wrongdoing in an interview given to CNN’s Brazil branch in 2023 at the time the probe was originally launched.
The former Brazilian president has not publicly commented on the contents of Mauro Cid’s unsealed plea bargain statements at press time. Bolsonaro made his first public appearance on Thursday since Prosecutor General Gonet filed criminal charges against him this week. Bolsonaro downplayed the coup accusations as a “Disney coup” and asserted that he has a “clear conscience.”
“I’m not obsessed with power. I have a passion for Brazil. Unlike a few here in Brasilia, who are in charge at the moment, I have a clear conscience. There’s nothing against us but narratives. They’ve all fallen apart. They’ve invested heavily now in this latest one, the coup,” Bolsonaro said at an event hosted by his Liberal Party (PL).
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
