By The Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian police are investigating several top allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2022 election and searched their homes and offices Thursday.
Bolsonaro was not himself the target of a search but, like others, was ordered to forfeit his passport, according to a decision by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes made public Thursday.
The subjects of the 33 searches police planned to conduct included Bolsonaro’s 2022 running mate, Gen. Walter Braga Netto; a former adviser, Gen. Augusto Heleno; former Justice Minister Anderson Torres and the head of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, the decision said.
There were also four preventive arrest warrants, one of which targeted Bolsonaro’s special adviser on international affairs, Filipe Martins.
Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Fabio Wajngarten, said on X, formerly Twitter, that Bolsonaro would comply with the order to hand over his passport. A Bolsonaro aide who is among the search targets was with the former president at the time of the Thursday morning operation, Wajngarten said.
The aide was asked to return to Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, to put Bolsonaro in compliance with an order not to have any contact with individuals under investigation, the lawyer said.
Police said in a statement they were carrying out 33 searches and seeking four arrests in eight states and the Federal District, where Brasilia is located. The probe is connected to an alleged criminal organization that “acted to attempt a coup d’etat” that would have kept Bolsonaro in power after his election defeat against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the statement said.
The group under investigation allegedly prepared before the 2022 election to allege voting fraud “in order to enable and legitimize a military intervention,” police said.
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