Investigation opened in Brazil against Bolsonaro's youngest son

Brasilia, March 1 (RHC)-- Brazil's Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF, Fiscalía) is investigating Renan Bolsonaro, youngest son of President Jair Bolsonaro, for what it calls "dubious private business and possible illegal contracts" with the federal government.

According to the magazine "Veja", the son of the Brazilian president may have acted as a lobbyist before the Planalto Palace (headquarters of the Executive branch) for companies that invest in his business activities and draws attention to the fact that Renan became a prosperous real estate investor after his mother married the then federal deputy, Jair Bolsonaro.

According to the publication, the young businessman, 22 years of age, contacted the president, for example, to arrange a meeting of one of his sponsors with representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development; which caused that after the case became known, the MPF received complaints from opposition parliamentarians and filed a lawsuit.

Prosecutors in the Federal District (DF, Brasília) have already requested the collection of data from the president's son, the company Bolsonaro JR Eventos e Media, and his business partners.  One of the firms is negotiating to close a deal with the Ministry of Public Works to build affordable housing and the other provided video production services to the Ministries of Health, Education and Tourism.

Before his father became president in 2019, Renan was unemployed.  Later, he founded a company with a start-up capital for the equivalent of about $19,000.   Already last December, Deputy Ivan Valente, of the Socialism and Freedom Party, asked the Attorney General's Office to start an investigation into Renan's business dealings with government companies.

"We knocked on the door of the DF Attorney General's Office," reiterated the parliamentarian, "to know the obvious influence peddling in the case of the production company, hired by Planalto that worked for free for Bolsonaro's youngest, Renan. Brazil cannot be hostage of this authoritarian immorality", he remarked.

Renan would be the second of Bolsonaro's sons under suspicion or, directly, under investigation for corruption, as is his brother Flavio.