Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been indicted under suspicion of falsyfying vaccine records during his tenure, as reported by CNN Brasil.
As per the police, Bolsonaro apparently ordered a close aide to put a fake vaccination data into the Ministry of Health’s database which belonged to him and his daughter.
Along with Bolsonaro, former Lieutenant-Colonel Mauro Cid and 15 others are singled out in the indictment for their alleged participation in the plan.
Following the podcast, Bolsonaro’s lawyer Fabio Wajngarten explained Bolsonaro’s position regarding vaccination as “absurd” according to his knowledge.
Last year, Brazilian authorities launched an investigation of the vaccination records forgery allegations at the President’s residence in Brasilia. The President denied that he had partaken in any wrongdoing.
The Brazilian Prosecutor’s Office will consider if a prosecution against Bolsonaro should be commenced. Thus, Bolsonaro was heavily criticised domestically and abroad for his approach to the pandemic, which was also connected with the disbelief in the vaccines implementation.
His presidency was not without scandals, one of which is not allowing UN assembly members to be vaccinated and facing the accusation of stirring up violence after the 2022 election.
The indictment, along with the further investigations of the alleged coup attempt to maintain his power and electoral offences during the 2022 election, will add to Bolsonaro’s legal problems.
After his election defeat, Bolsonaro was suspended from contesting elections until 2030, following the court rulings of the electoral court.
