Flávio Bolsonaro, the far-right senator who lost Brazil's presidential runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday, was barred from leaving the country and ordered to surrender his passports just hours after the defeat, The Guardian reported.
The order came from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also oversaw the coup trial of Bolsonaro's father, former President Jair Bolsonaro. It cancels all of the senator's passports, including the diplomatic one he holds as a lawmaker, and gives him 24 hours to hand them over.
A money-laundering probe
The brief ruling refers only to a criminal case in which federal police are investigating Bolsonaro's possible involvement in a money-laundering scheme. He is also barred from contacting Willer Tomaz, a friend and lawyer tied to betting firms that police believe laundered about £680 million. Bolsonaro is also under investigation over £20 million he was recorded asking a banker accused of corruption to provide for a biopic about his father.
Bolsonaro broke the news himself in a video, saying police served him the order as he left a visit with his father, who is under house arrest in Brasília. He said the decision stemmed from an interview his brother Eduardo, living in self-imposed exile in the United States, gave on a U.S. podcast last Friday urging him to leave Brazil if he lost. "I never said that," the senator insisted. His Senate term ends early next year, leaving him without public office, and the special legal jurisdiction it brings, for the first time in 24 years.
Still no concession
Like his father four years ago, Bolsonaro has not conceded. His party said Monday night that it recognizes the result proclaimed by the electoral court, while insisting the questions it raised deserve debate.
After the result, Bolsonaro had vowed to seek the election's annulment, blaming a two-hour voting extension meant to help voters who could not reach the polls on free public transport, even though his own campaign had also sought an extension. Folha de S.Paulo reported that allies and lawyers persuaded him to drop that plan as legally weak, though he has not publicly reversed it and now says he will file a separate case seeking to disqualify Lula's ticket for alleged abuse of economic power.
Reporting sources: World news | The Guardian, “Brazil: defeated Flávio Bolsonaro ordered to surrender passports”.