Aug. 19 (UPI) — Former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wanted to tamper with voting machines, according to testimony from a hacker who accuses the ex-leader of offering him legal immunity for his services.
Walter Delgatti Neto testified to a parliamentary panel on Thursday that Bolsonaro told him, “Rest assured if that if by chance someone arrests you, I will have the judge arrested.”
Delgatti also told investigators that Bolsonaro offered him a full pardon if he were to face legal consequences.
The testimony came as part of the Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, which is probing the election and unrest and riots by Bolsonaro supporters on Jan. 8 following his election loss to Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva.
According to Delgatti, Bolsonaro wanted to him to “expose the fragility” of the voting machines and to upload a fraudulent arrest warrant against Superior Electoral Court judge Alexandre de Moraes.
Additionally, Bolsonaro’s former assistant, Lt. Colonel Mauro Cid, is slated tell the inquiry that the former president dispatched him to trade jewels in the United States. Cid’s lawyer told the Folha de Sao Paolo newspaper that “he confesses that he bought the jewels evidently at the behest of the president.”
Cid was arrested for allegedly tampering with vaccination cards in May.
Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida in December, two days ahead of the transfer of power to successor Lula, in a break from the Brazilian tradition of having the president hand over his ceremonial sash to a successor.
Since leaving office, the former president has been the subject of multiple investigations, including probes into his role in the Jan. 8 riots and potential impropriety with foreign gifts from Saudi Arabia.
In March, Bolsonaro returned to Brazil.