Flávio Bolsonaro's passports cancelled after he fails to surrender them

Flávio Bolsonaro's passports cancelled after failure to surrender them

Brazilian authorities have cancelled the passports of defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro after he failed to comply with an order to surrender the travel documents within a 24-hour deadline. What makes the situation more volatile is that while federal officers checked border crossings and media reports placed him on a private flight abroad, members of his inner circle and his general campaign coordinator could not be reached or denied he had departed.

The sequence of events began on Sunday when the 45-year-old senator suffered a defeat in the presidential run-off against left-wing rival President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Opinion polls had put Bolsonaro narrowly ahead, and analysts pointed out that Bolsonaro's win in the first round of the election on October 4 meant he was likely to take victory in the run-off. Yet Lula overturned the deficit to win by 4.4 million votes, becoming the first presidential candidate to overturn a first round loss to win in the second round. Bolsonaro refused to concede, calling for the election to be annulled and denouncing a two-hour voting extension ordered by a Supreme Court justice as a dirty trick, despite the extension being requested by both his own party and that of his rival.

According to the Folha de S Paulo newspaper, Flávio Bolsonaro was subsequently persuaded by allies and lawyers to drop his plan to seek to annul the election, as they told him his argument was legally weak. However, Bolsonaro had still not publicly reversed his demand for an annulment, and in a video posted on social media said he would file another case to have Lula’s ticket disqualified over alleged abuse of economic power, a similar case to others his legal team brought during the campaign.

Court Orders and the Money-Laundering Probe

Following the election, Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to hand his passports over to the Federal Police within 24 hours as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering, which the senator denies. The court’s brief ruling regarding his passport orders him not to have any contact with his friend Willer Tomaz, a lawyer linked to betting companies that police suspect were being used to launder about £680m. The ruling also cancelled all of Bolsonaro’s passports, including the diplomatic one he holds as a congressman.

On Monday afternoon, Bolsonaro posted a video on social media stating he had been banned from leaving the country and ordered to surrender his passports. He said he had just left a visit to his father, who is under house arrest in Brasília, when Lula’s federal police were at his door and in the middle of the street, and I was served with an order to hand over my passports and I am also prohibited from leaving the country. He added, I never had any intention of leaving the country. I will surrender my passports and defend myself against this travesty.

Bolsonaro also addressed comments made by his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro—who is in self-imposed exile in the US. Eduardo had told a US podcast on Friday urging the senator to leave Brazil if he lost the election, but Flávio stated, I never said that.

Despite his public promise to comply, the deadline passed on Tuesday afternoon without the senator delivering the documents. A police source speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity confirmed that Flávio Bolsonaro's passports have been cancelled, adding that there is no formal record of Flavio Bolsonaro leaving the country. Letícia Casado, a columnist for the UOL news website, reported that since early Tuesday morning, Bolsonaro's allies had been trying to contact him without success. Rogério Marinho, Bolsonaro's general campaign coordinator, denied that the candidate had left Brazil, while members of Flávio Bolsonaro's inner circle did not respond to AFP requests for comment on his movements. AFP observers noted a motorcade leaving his residence in Brasília, though it could not be determined whether the senator was inside any of the vehicles.

Border Rumours and International Scrutiny

Speculation over his whereabouts intensified amid conflicting reports about cross-border travel. According to the Argentine outlet Infobae, the son of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro had arrived in the Argentine town of Puerto Iguazú at 2 am on Tuesday, using his national identity card. He was reportedly preparing to continue on to the United States on a private flight. US media also reported that Mr Bolsonaro was on a plane to Donald Trump's US.

Federal officers are checking border crossings to establish if Bolsonaro may have travelled to neighbouring Argentina, but Argentine authorities and Argentina's National Security Ministry denied local media reports that he had entered their country through any border crossing.

The background to these legal pressures extends beyond the election defeat. Bolsonaro was already under investigation for alleged corruption over the financing of the biopic about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup and is under house arrest. The new money-laundering case compounds his pre-existing criminal investigations, including a case over what happened to the £20m he was captured on tape asking a disgraced banker accused of corruption to provide for the biopic.

On Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino ordered police to open a new investigation into Bolsonaro's electoral campaign, targeting alleged foreign funding, the possible origin, circulation and destination of foreign resources, and deliberate asymmetries and algorithmic manipulation by internet companies aimed at favoring or harming candidacies in Brazil's electoral process.

Meanwhile, the political fallout widened internationally. US President Donald Trump, an ally of the Bolsonaro family, told reporters in Washington that the Brazilian election looked terrible to me and looked like another rigged election frankly, adding that he didn't take sides but it looked so corrupt.

On Monday night, Bolsonaro's party, the Liberal Party, issued a statement addressing the outcome, saying:

We recognise the presidential result proclaimed by the electoral court, but believe that the questions raised need to be properly clarified through a balanced and democratic political debate.

Liberal Party via The Guardian

When his Senate term ends early next year, Bolsonaro will be out of public office for the first time in 24 years, and therefore without the special immunity afforded to officeholders as his legal woes pile up.

Federal Police continue to monitor compliance and border registries, while investigators examine the newly ordered probes into campaign finances and foreign resource flows.