Confirmed: Bolsonaro's government asked for a dollar of bribe per dose of vaccine
The complaint against Bolsonaro for bribes in the purchase of Coronavirus vaccines took shape on Tuesday when the confirmation came out that his administration was asking for a bribe of one dollar per dose to purchase vaccines.
Entrepreneur Luis Paulo Dominguetti, representative of Davati Medical Supply, revealed that last February, the Director of Logistics of the Ministry of Health, Roberto Ferreira Dias, asked him for a dollar per dose to activate a purchase contract for 400 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines. "Whoever wants to sell vaccines to the Ministry, has to go through that process," the official told him, according to the entrepreneur's testimony.
The Director of Logistics of the Ministry of Health explained to the entrepreneur that it was necessary to pay this bribe to benefit a group "within the government." Dias has already been fired, but the case increased pressure on Bolsonaro, who faces new calls for impeachment.
The shocking testimony revealed in an interview with the Folha de São Paulo Newspaper, adds to the scandal that already affects the purchase of Vaccines Covaxin, the Indian version of AstraZeneca.
In the face of the new revelations, Brazil's Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga announced that the contract signed for the purchase of 20 million doses of Covaxim will be put on hold until the allegations analyzed by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) are clarified.
In this case, another suspicious event, which was anticipated by LPO, refers to a bogus company based in Singapore, which appears as an intermediary to receive part of the payments, although it is not included in the contract.
Bolsonaro denounced for overpriced purchase of vaccine from India
The Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Brazil (PGR) received a new request to open an investigation against President Jair Bolsonaro for omission of practice or the crime of embezzlement in the purchase of vaccines against Covid-19.
As published by LPO, the origin of this scandal goes back to the complaint of federal deputy Luís Claudio Miranda, who testified last week before the ICC and confirmed that Bolsonaro was alerted to the existence of irregularities involving the Ministry of Health and the Biotechnology Laboratory of Bharat, brokered by a Brazilian company. And according to his account, the president did not open any investigation, despite the strength of the complaint.
The director of imports of the Logistics Department of the Ministry of Health, Luis Ricardo Miranda.
The accusations against Bolsonaro are in effect for his omission to contain the event, which fueled impeachment calls for the "crime of responsibility." The accusation made by the opposition parties exposes the president's allies in Congress as they defend him in a rather uncomfortable situation.
Another key testimony before the commission was that of Luis Ricardo Miranda, head of the health ministry's import division, and brother of the whistleblower parliamentarian, who until recently was an ally of Bolsonaro.
The impeachment request of the Brazilian President will be presented in Brasilia next Wednesday. The questionable management of the health crisis and this case of corruption ignited a wave of confrontation faced by Bolsonaro with the opposition and the social movements that have been demonstrating on the streets of the country's main cities.
A question was thrown by the former presidential candidate, Ciro Gomes, who asked through his social media: "What is Lula's opinion on all these scandals? Look at the mess we've fallen into: the main opposition leader so far hasn't said a word about this absurd corruption and vaccine theft."
Lula leads the polls and since he launched his candidacy he never mentioned the need for impeachment against his main opponent. Ciro Gomes' teams believe that Lula needs Bolsonaro in order to win the election, since the polarization with the current president benefits him politically.