Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office has launched an investigation to clarify whether President Jair Bolsonaro has committed any wrongdoing after being informed of alleged irregularities in the contract to purchase 20 million Covaxin coronavirus vaccines. The website of the newspaper O Globo reports it.
The investigation was opened today by the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Humberto Jaqcues de Medeiros for the crime of “prevarication”, that is when a public official is informed of an irregularity, but delays his action or does not act in a way that can be investigated and punished. In his order, the prosecutor proposes a deadline of 90 days to complete this first phase of the investigation. The contract with Covaxin, canceled last Tuesday by the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, provided for the payment of the highest price ever paid by Brazil for an anti Covid-19 vaccine.
The parliamentary commission of inquiry into the pandemic had turned the spotlight on the contract after the deposition of the deputy Luis Miranda and his brother Luis Ricardo Miranda, purchasing manager of the Ministry of Health, who had denounced “pressure” for approval of the contract.
The two said they personally informed the president of what was happening. Three opposition senators had asked for an investigation to be opened against President Jair Bolsonaro, who defended himself from the accusations by stating that “he cannot know everything that is happening in the 22 ministries”.