Official letter shows that Bolsonaro ordered Revenue to return jewelry the day before moving to the US

BRASÍLIA – The letter sent as the last letter from former president Jair Bolsonaro to rescue the jewelry seized by the Federal Revenue says that “the goods were offered to the president of the Republic by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia”. The document obtained by Estadão was sent at the end of December 28, 2022, at the end of the Bolsonaro administration and is signed by Lieutenant Colonel of the Army Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s assistant and “handyman”.

Document 736/2022/GPPR-AJO/GPPR is explicit in “determining immediately that the assets be removed” by Navy First Sergeant Jairo Moreira da Silva by order of the president’s office, who moved to the United States on the day December 30th to not pass the banner to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The letter directly involves the President of the Republic in negotiations to recover the diamonds. It was addressed to the former Federal Revenue Secretary, Julio Cesar Vieria Gomes, who, on the same day, ordered the Revenue Superintendence in São Paulo to comply with it and return the jewelry.

The next day, a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) jet took the first sergeant to the Guarulhos Air Base, in São Paulo, with the mission of rescuing the diamond jewels (a necklace, a pair of earrings, a watch and a ring), valued at 3 million euros or R$ 16.5 million. As revealed by Esadão, the gift given by the Saudi regime was seized by the Tax Authorities because it tried to enter illegally, hidden in the backpack of the adviser to the former Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, in October 2021.

O Estadão found the record of the FAB flight that took Jairo Moreira da Silva to São Paulo. The determination was given by Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, who carried out all the orders of the former president, took care of his papers, speeches and personal demands and accompanied him practically all the time, in the Planalto routine, on trips and even in presidential debates. 2022, giving suggestions, presenting documents and data.

At the Guarulhos Airport, the military met the Revenue server Marco Antônio Lopes Santanna. He even showed the screen of his cell phone, where he displayed the image of a document addressed “to Mr. Julio Cesar”. Jairo said that he was there to remove “some material” held up at customs and that the head of the Revenue itself should have already contacted Guarulhos customs. The document presented referred to a “Term of Retention of Goods” related to jewelry.

Immediately, Santanna clarified that he had no information on the matter and told Jairo that he would not hand over anything. Concerned, Navy First Sergeant Jairo Moreira da Silva then began a cell phone conversation with someone he referred to only as “colonel”. In front of Santanna, he suggested to the IRS tax auditor that he talk to his “colonel”. Santanna, however, resisted again, and informed that there was no possibility of doing that kind of service over the phone.

Jairo insisted again. He told the inspector that he would identify the name of the person responsible for the Revenue who would deal with the clearance at the airport. Santanna explained that the letter from the federal government displayed on the cell phone was not directed at him, but at the head of the Revenue, Julio Cesar Vieira Gomes. The server again said that he had no knowledge of that operation and that, as it was an attempt to withdraw and incorporate a good, the process would have to be formally presented through an “Act of Goods Disposal”.

Bolsonaro’s emissary, however, was unwilling to leave the airport without the jewelry and had orders to leave the place with only the case in hand. Jairo showed, this time, a “Term of Retention” issued by the Revenue, on his cell phone screen, but Santanna held back the pressure and said, categorically, that he would not be able to help.

The soldier then became exasperated. He said that he arrived at that time from Brasilia and went directly to customs, because he was carrying out a mission “on an urgent basis”. The tax auditor then asked that the document be sent to the customs’ corporate e-mail, but Jairo said he preferred to wait for instructions, because his “colonel” would talk to someone else.

It was at this moment that the First Sergeant of the Navy commented on the change of command in the Presidency of the Republic, which would take place in just two days. In his attempt to convince, Jairo told the Revenue agent that it was all part of the change of government and that “you can’t have anything from the old one to the next one, you have to take everything and take it”.

A new call rang on the military’s cell phone. It was Julio Cesar Vieira Gomes, the head of Revenue, aligned with Jair Bolsonaro. The military suggests passing the cell phone to the tax auditor. The idea was that the release of the jewels would be reinforced by Julio, but the server Marco Antônio Lopes Santanna did not answer the phone. Unshakable, he denied the release and asked the military to get in touch with the Guarulhos customs officer. The call ended. The former Revenue Secretary was appointed on December 30, 2022, the Revenue attache in Paris.

Santanna then asked the military to wait for a response from the Guarulhos customs officer, with the due Merchandise Allocation Act, but again stressed that, even with the presentation of the document, in that circumstance, it would be very difficult to access the jewels . Jairo waited for a while, as instructed by the server, but soon after gave up and left the airport, without returning or contacting the tax auditor. Thus, the last of Bolsonaro’s many attempts to get the jewels ended in failure.

Official FAB records show that the president’s emissary would return to Brasília on a commercial flight, and no longer on an FAB aircraft. If he had managed to remove the jewelry, therefore, the items would have entered through the Brasília airport, outside the customs area, and would have been in the hands of the president and Michelle Bolsonaro.

From the United States, former President Bolsonaro denied that he had any knowledge of the jewels, saying he did not know what they were and that he received nothing. Michelle Bolsonaro went to social media to mock the millionaire value of the gift, said she was unaware of the items and insulted the press.

The jewels are still apprehended to this day in the Revenue vault, in Guarulhos.