Brazil’s Bolsonaro denies illegal acts with seized jewelry

By CARLA BRIDI
Associated Press

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro says he did nothing illegal following reports that he tried to bring jewelry worth more than $3 million into the country in 2021 without declaring it to authorities. The jewelry had been given as a gift to Bolosonaro by the Saudi Arabian government when he was in office, according to the O Estado de São Paulo newspaper. The set was found in luggage belonging to an adviser to Bolsonaro’s mines and energy minister in São Paulo’s international airport, according to the newspaper. The minister had visited Saudi Arabia after attending a 2021 Middle East summit.