Brazil Prosecutors Eye Bolsonaro's Assets as Rich Backers Disavow Riots
29m ago
Felipe Marques, Tatiana Freitas and Martha Beck, Bloomberg News
A Military Police officer falls from his horse during clashes with supporters of Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro after an invasion to Planalto Presidential Palace in Brasilia on January 8, 2023. , Fotógrafo: SERGIO LIMA/AFP
(Bloomberg) -- Brazilian prosecutors asked a court to seize the assets of former President Jair Bolsonaro as their investigation of the violent, anti-government riots that shook the country Sunday expands beyond the demonstrators themselves.
Officials said the money should be used to help pay for the damage to public property when protesters stormed government buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8. Investigators have also identified more than 100 companies suspected of having financed the rioters and will call for their assets to be blocked, CNN Brasil reported, without saying where it got the information.
Officials are broadening their investigation into Brazil’s worst political violence in decades after arresting more than 1,500 rioters, with a focus on tracking down who paid to ferry the Bolsonaro supporters to Brasilia and who funded protest camps in front of military headquarters.
Authorities are also looking into possible ties between the protesters and some members of Brazil’s massive agricultural sector — a key financial backer of Bolsonaro — but Justice Minister Flavio Dino said it’s too early to say who bankrolled the riots.
More:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/brazil-prosecutors-eye-bolsonaro-s-assets-as-rich-backers-disavow-riots-1.1868265
