Brazil’s new government has released former president Jair Bolsonaro’s personal spending account, revealing the far-right leader’s penchant for expensive hotels, big restaurants and ice cream.
Bolsonaro, who lost his run for re-election in October, once boasted that he never withdrew “a single penny” from a corporate credit card given to him and his closest advisers.
He banned the disclosure of spending records for 100 years, but on Thursday the new government of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva revealed the records of the past four presidents, dating back to 2003.
Spending was categorized by date, amount, name of where the money was spent, and the company being paid for. Most of the spending was spent on hotels and meals.
Nine of the 10 biggest expenditures made during Bolsonaro’s presidency were hotels in Guaruja, where the former army captain loved to spend his weekends. The corporate card was also used on dozens of trips to Pet his shop, pharmacy, restaurant and ice cream parlor. (About £1,300 was spent on ice cream.)
The list is dotted with oddities, with O Globo claiming that Bolsonaro and his team spent a fortune buying 659 takeout meals and 2,964 sandwiches a day at restaurants in the state of Roraima. reporting.
More than 12,000 reais (about £2,000) were spent at one time in steak restaurants. 25,000 reais has been placed on the tab of burger restaurants in the northern state of Ceara. More than 50,000 reais were handed over at a bakery in Rio de Janeiro the day before Bolsonaro took part in a motorcycle rally, according to a Brazilian media breakdown.
Corporate cards were supposed to be used for travel expenses and small or emergency purchases, but the money was also used for hunting and fishing, sporting goods, sheets and bedding, and bottled gas.
Bolsonaro’s spending is under scrutiny, but his total inflation-adjusted spending of 32 million reais has been below Lula’s in both of his first two terms, from 2003 to 2011, and below his successor Dilma Rousseff.
Publica said part of Bolsonaro’s spending was hidden behind confidentiality rules and has not yet been made public, which could be one reason for the discrepancy.
