"I was surprised by this search (...) I didn't falsify anything. I haven't been vaccinated, period," the former far-right head of state (2019-2022) told reporters outside his residence in the Brazilian capital.

The Federal Police (FP) explained in a statement that it had carried out a total of 16 searches, in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, targeting "a criminal network" suspected of "introducing false data of vaccination against Covid into public health systems". It does not explicitly mention Mr. Bolsonaro.

The false vaccination certificates were allegedly "used to circumvent the health restrictions imposed by the authorities in Brazil and the United States," the statement said.

Six arrest warrants were also issued. According to Brazilian media, police arrested Mauro Cid, a former aide-de-camp to Bolsonaro, a military man who was considered his handyman during his presidency.

"Nothing to hide"

"Conspiring against public health is an extremely serious act of corruption," Flavio Dino, justice minister in the leftist government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said Wednesday at a hearing in parliament.

During his tenure, Bolsonaro has repeatedly criticized anti-Covid vaccines, repeatedly saying he has no intention of being immunized against the pandemic that has killed more than 700,000 people in Brazil.

He even made headlines by stating that the Pfizer vaccine could "turn (people) into a crocodile" because of possible side effects.

"My phone was seized, but I have nothing to hide (....) There are forbidden topics in Brazil, such as the issue of vaccines," he told reporters on Wednesday.

A Brazilian Federal Police vehicle leaves the compound where ex-President Jair Bolsonaro lives who has just been searched in Brasilia, May 3, 2023 © EVARISTO SA / AFP

"In Brazil, nowadays, anything is possible," he sighed.

He explained that neither he nor his 12-year-old daughter Laura had been vaccinated, but that his wife Michelle had received a dose in 2021, in the United States.

Later in the day in an interview with the Jovem Pan channel, Jair Bolsonaro assured that he had been "well treated" by the police, who according to him were "embarrassed" to search his home.

Jewelry and riots in Brasilia

Defeated by Lula in October's presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro, 68, then spent three months in Florida, leaving Brazil two days before the inauguration of his successor.

The vaccination certificate was still required to enter the United States during this stay. The U.S. government announced Monday that the requirement would be lifted as of May 11.

The presentation of this certificate is not required for representatives of foreign governments, but Mr. Bolsonaro's mandate ended on December 31, the day after his arrival in the United States.

"Every time I went to the United States, I was never asked to show my vaccination certificate," he told Jovem Pan.

One of his lawyers, Paulo Cunha Bueno, assured that the former president would surrender "as soon as possible" to the Federal Police to provide clarification, but only once his defense has access to the file.

Since his return to Brazil at the end of March, with the firm intention of opposing the Lula government, Jair Bolsonaro has been interviewed twice by the Federal Police.

The first hearing took place on 5 April, in a case of jewellery offered by Saudi Arabia that entered Brazil illegally.

And last week, he was heard as part of an investigation into his alleged role in the January 8 riots in Brasilia, when places of power were ransacked by individuals refusing to accept Lula's election.

In both cases, the former president also denied any wrongdoing.

He is also under investigation by the Superior Electoral Tribunal, which could make him ineligible for the 2026 presidential election.

© 2023 AFP