By Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA (Reuters) -An investigation by Brazil’s federal police will conclude that former president Jair Bolsonaro conspired to engineer an attempted coup d’etat after he lost the 2022 election, a source with direct knowledge of the investigations told Reuters.
Signs of Bolsonaro’s involvement in editing a draft decree to overturn the election results will be reinforced by further evidence collected by the federal police using search and seizure warrants, according to the source.
The probe is expected to be finished by November.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The far-right former president has always denied any wrongdoing.
The source, who requested anonymity to discuss the topic, said that new evidence implied that Bolsonaro and his allies had engineered a scheme to prevent the inauguration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as president at the end of 2022.
The investigation was once expected to conclude by August but was extended after police asked to see evidence from a separate probe into alleged illegal surveillance of Bolsonaro’s political adversaries while he was president.
The source said a riot on Jan. 8, 2023 by Bolsonaro supporters, who invaded and ransacked Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace a week after Lula’s inauguration, appeared to have been “the last breath of an attempted coup”.
The source also said new evidence had been found on the cell phones of people targeted by the investigation, but did not detail what might be included in the final report, expected to be sent to the Supreme Court next month.
Bolsonaro has already been formally accused by federal police of tampering with COVID-19 vaccination cards, and also of embezzling jewelry gifted by the Saudi government.
He has also been barred from public office until 2030 after being convicted by Brazil’s top electoral court of abuse of power and misuse of the media to spread unfounded claims about the electronic voting system.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Luana Maria Benedito; Editing by Gabriel Araujo and Kevin Liffey)
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