By Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s Supreme Court on Saturday authorized a cooperation deal between former President Jair Bolsonaro’s former aide and the country’s Federal Police, tightening the vice on the ex-leader who faces multiple criminal probes that could land him in jail.
The aide, Mauro Cid, has been at the center of various investigations into the former president, including allegations of falsified vaccination records and a scheme to sell off expensive jewels given to the Bolsonaro administration.
The news that Cid, jailed since May, has agreed to cooperate with the Federal Police likely spells bad news for Bolsonaro, who has been under growing legal jeopardy since narrowly losing last year’s presidential election.
Bolsonaro is accused of forging an election denial movement that culminated with the Jan. 8 storming of government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters. He has already been ruled politically ineligible until 2030 by Brazil’s federal electoral court.
In Saturday’s decision, seen by Reuters, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled that Cid fulfilled the criteria for a cooperation agreement, and released him from jail. He will need to use an ankle tag, cannot leave the country, and will need to present himself to authorities once a week, among other restrictive measures.
Any failure to comply with those measures would land him back in jail, the decision states.
(Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
