On January 6, the expenses of the Presidency’s corporate credit card were made public by the federal government, which was already under the rule of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party). This Thursday (12), the website Fiquem Sabendo received the link to access the data after it had made a request using the Access to Information Law (known as LAI in Brazil). Until then, the Bolsonaro government argued that it would keep the values confidential following an excerpt from LAI.
Gourmet market
Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) spent over 680,000 reais (about 133,000 US dollars) in a “small gourmet market” using the presidential corporate credit card. During his four-year mandate, there were 1,264 purchases paid with public money in a market called La Palma, one of the most expensive markets in Brazil’s capital city, Brasília.
Having stores located in two of the fanciest neighbourhoods of the city, La Palma has sold food to the Presidency since January 2, 2019, Bolsonaro’s second day ruling the country. The most expensive purchase cost 4,021.90 reais (787 US dollars). The average cost of presidential purchases in La Palma was 540 reais (almost 106 US dollars).
A woman denounced the business owner for being xenophobic. According to her account to the Brazilian news website Metrópoles, the man offended her because she is from Bahia state, in the northeast of Brazil. Lula had a vote advantage over Bolsonaro there.
Visit to a restaurant during a motorcade rally
Jair Bolsonaro – or someone using his corporate credit card during his presidential term – paid a total of 152,000 reais (about 29,000 US dollars) in three days to a restaurant called Sabor da Casa, located in the capital city of Roraima state, Boa Vista, northern Brazil.
According to the restaurant’s social media accounts, the price of dishes varies from 12 to 18 reais (from 2,35 to 3,52 US dollars, respectively). It means Bolsonaro’s corporate credit card may have bought between 8,445 and 12,668 take-out food units if the original prices are considered.
A photo of the restaurant available on Google Maps (it illustrates this article) is not updated (it was taken in 2018). Images published by the restaurant on its official social media accounts show that it has changed since then. However, it is unlikely that the place could fulfil such a huge request.
The dates of the purchases at the restaurant paid with the corporate credit card coincide with those of trips by the then president to Boa Vista. In a trip he made in September of 2021 – the first time Bolsonaro travelled to Roraima state as president –, he attended a motorcade rally with supporters, according to the local news media. A couple of days after reaching 1,000 days in the presidency, the now-former president travelled to Roraima once again to inaugurate a thermal power plant.
Less than a month after the official trip to Roraima’s capital city, Bolsonaro seems to get a taste for Boa Vista (perhaps for the food served at Sabor da Casa) and returned there. On the occasion, he visited one of the shelters of the Welcome Operation, coordinated by the Army to support Venezuelan immigrants.
Altogether, the expenses accumulated on a three-day trip to Roraima cost 360,000 reais (about 69,920 US dollars), paid with Bolsonaro’s corporate credit card. The expenses were not limited to the restaurant.
As the now-former president does not have a press office, it was not possible to contact his team to hear from him. However, we remain open to manifestations, and the article may be updated.
Brasil de Fato tried to contact Sabor da Casa Restaurant by calling the phone numbers they informed on social media accounts – which are still active – but to no avail. In case of a response, the story will be updated with more details about the expenses paid with Bolsonaro’s corporate credit card in the Boa Vista commercial establishment.
Edited by: Nicolau Soares e Flávia Chacon
