Brazilian police today raided the residence of former President Jair Bolsonaro and arrested two of his personal assistants as part of an investigation into fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates, local media reported.

The investigation, one of several that the far-right politician has faced, aims to answer the question of whether Bolsonaro, a coronavirus denier who vowed not to be vaccinated against the virus, was vaccinated in medical records that were released in February. .

Bolsonaro said he was “surprised” by the police raid on his home, reiterating that he had not been vaccinated. “There was nothing fake from my side. I didn’t get the vaccine. Period,” he told reporters outside his home after the police raid, claiming that the police had confiscated his mobile phone.

The Federal Police (PF) said in a statement that it has conducted a total of 16 investigations and issued six preventive arrest warrants in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro as part of an operation against a “criminal network” suspected of “importing false information” . data on Covid vaccination in public health systems,” but without Bolsonaro’s name.

Two sources who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the operation arrested Mauro Cid and Max Guilherme, Bolsonaro’s personal assistants since he was president.

Police said they were investigating “false data” allegedly entered into the national Covid-19 database between November 2021 and December 2022, when Bolsonaro was still president.

Fake vaccination certificates “were used to circumvent medical restrictions imposed by government agencies in Brazil and the United States,” police said.

During his time in office, Bolsonaro continued to criticize Covid vaccines, stating on several occasions that he had no intention of getting vaccinated while the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 700,000 people in Brazil.

After his defeat in the October presidential election – a defeat he did not accept – he spent three months in the United States. However, a vaccination certificate was still required to enter the US when Bolsonaro arrived there.

After returning to Brazil at the end of March, Bolsonaro was interrogated twice by federal police.

The first interrogation took place on April 5 in the case of jewelry that was transferred to the wife of the former president in Saudi Arabia and illegally imported into Brazil. Bolsonaro was interrogated again last week as part of another investigation into his alleged role in the January 8 unrest in Brasília, when government buildings were ransacked by people who refused to recognize the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP, Reuters.