Brazil police accuse Bolsonaro of fraud in vaccine records

STORY: Brazil’s federal police formally accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination records in order to skirt public health regulations.

That’s according to a police report seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The move paves the way for Brazil’s prosecutor general to present criminal charges before the Supreme Court.

A government investigation had already found Bolsonaro’s records were falsified to suggest he was vaccinated against COVID-19 in Sao Paulo in July 2021, when he was not in the city.

Police found in their report that Bolsonaro could be charged with falsifying data in the country's public health system and forming a criminal organization to evade public health rules.

The police report alleges a former Bolsonaro aide, who was arrested in the investigation and reached a plea deal, fraudulently obtained vaccination records for Bolsonaro and his daughter Laura at the request of the then-president.

The police said that the fake certificates were issued "to obtain undue advantages related to the evasion of sanitary rules established during the pandemic period."

Bolsonaro told Reuters that he had not taken the COVID vaccine or done anything wrong: "It's a selective investigation. I'm calm... The world knows that I didn't take the vaccine."

During his tenure, Bolsonaro repeatedly downplayed the importance of immunization and social distancing measures during the pandemic, which killed more than 700,000 people in Brazil.

He has been ruled politically ineligible until 2030 for spreading electoral misinformation during the 2022 election which he lost.