Jair Bolsonaro’s exorbitant expenses with the presidential card amaze Brazil: thousands of dollars in pastry shops and ice cream parlors

A few days after assuming the presidency of Brazil, Lula da Silva decided to bring to light documents, files and papers on the management of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. In the midst of all that “folding” came one publication that caused a sensation: the astonishing expenses the former president made on his corporate credit card, in which millions in restaurants, pastry shops and ice cream parlors.

The extracts from the papers of the presidency, corresponding to his four years in office (2019-2022), were published this Friday on an official website of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in power since 1 January.

More than $21,000 in a modest restaurantnearly $11,000 in a pastry shop the day after her son’s wedding and about $1,700 in ice cream shopsit was some of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s spending on the presidential credit card that amazed Brazil.

The left-wing president, taking office for the third time, has begun to lift a 100-year-old secret imposed by his far-right predecessor on thousands of official documents.

A total of 27.6 million reais (about $5.4 million at current rates) was spent on that card, which was used by 21 of his team members.

If you take into account adjustments for inflation, spending is nearly half of what was done during Lula’s first term (2003-2007), even if that of the leftist leader was mainly linked to accommodation for trips abroad.

But this is not the case with Bolsonaro, who has not made foreign relations a priority and who has bragged on several occasions during his mandate that he has not spent any money.”not a penny” of the presidential credit card, unlike its predecessors.

News portal UOL, for example, found that 1.2 million reais (about $235,000) had been spent. within 28 days of official holidays of the former president in late 2019, 2020 and 2021.

On January 2, 2022, a payment of more than 71,000 reais (nearly $14,000) was made. at a service station from the state of Santa Catarina (south), where Bolsonaro caused a scandal when water skiing while terrible floods hit various regions of the country.

The presidential credit card was also used to pay 1.46 million reais (more than $280,000) over four years in a luxury hotel from Guarujá, seaside resort near São Paulo (southeast).

According to the G1 news website, that hotel hosted members of the presidential team while Bolsonaro stayed at a military compound.

The highest expenditure on food is also the one that raises the most questions: 109,266 reais (about 21,400 dollars) spent in one fell swoop in a modest restaurant in Boa Vista, in the Amazonian state of Roraima (north).

The amount is enough to order more than 2000 times the most expensive dish in the place: roasted chicken with manioc flour (manioc), at the modest price of 50 reais (9.8 dollars).

The presidential credit card was also used to pay more than 362,000 reais ($71,000) over four years. in a bakery in Rio de Janeiro.

The bill includes 55,000 reais paid in a single solution the day after the wedding of Eduardo, Bolsonaro’s third son, and 33,000 reais on the eve of a motorcycle parade organized by supporters of the former president through the streets of the city. A total of 8,600 reais (nearly $1,700) was spent. in ice cream shopsin 62 purchases in five plants.

Source: AFP