Brazilian police have formally accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of fraud relating to his COVID vaccination records, paving the way for possible criminal charges in the Supreme Court. His health records say he received the vaccine in Sao Paulo in 2021. But an investigation later found he was not in the city at the time. Bolsonaro, a COVID skeptic who publicly vowed never to have the vaccine, has denied any knowledge of records being tampered with. Almost 700,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US. The federal police accuse Bolsonaro — who regularly downplayed the severity of the virus — and eight other people of plotting to issue "false certificates to obtain undue advantages" during the pandemic. Vaccination was an entry requirement for many countries, including the US. Brazil's attorney general's office will now decide whether to charge the former president. The 68-year-old was questioned by police in connection with the allegations in May last year and his house was raided. He denied the accusations and accused authorities of trying to "fabricate a case" against him. The new indictment is just the latest legal battle he is facing as the former president had to surrender his passport last month over an investigation into accusations he tried to overturn the October 2022 election results and pressure military chiefs to join a coup attempt. After he lost to left-winger Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva in the presidential poll thousands of his supporters stormed government buildings in the capital Brasília — including the presidential palace, the Supreme Court and Congress — looting and vandalizing the buildings. Bolsonaro is still barred from running for office for eight years for undermining the electoral system in Brazil and claiming the last election was fraudulent, despite there being no evidence of electoral fraud. He was in the US when the attack on Congress happened. He returned to Brazil in March 2023, saying he had nothing to fear. He remains the most influential figurehead for the right in Brazilian politics. — BBC
