AGU wants investigation of financial transactions before the tariff hike

The Attorney General's Office has asked Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court to open an investigation into the alleged use of privileged information to profit from the tariff hike announced by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, against Brazil.

According to the AGU, the objective of the action is to investigate the possible link between the tariff hike and atypical movements in the Brazilian foreign exchange market before and after Trump announced a 50% tax on Brazilian exports to the United States, starting August 1st.

“In light of the reported facts, we can infer that they are part of a context in which the facts already being investigated in this inquiry go beyond the criminal offenses already indicated by the Attorney General's Office, related to obstruction of justice, but also with possible illicit financial gains, through the same facts that sought to hinder the application of criminal law,” the AGU maintains.

The request was filed on Saturday night, the 19th, in the investigation in which federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) is being investigated for his actions with the US government to promote retaliatory measures against the Brazilian government and Supreme Court ministers and to try to block the progress of the criminal action regarding the coup plot.

In March of this year, Eduardo, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), took a leave of absence from his parliamentary seat and went to live in the United States, citing political persecution. His leave ends today.

On Friday the 18th, in the same investigation, Bolsonaro was the target of a Federal Police operation and was forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and banned from leaving his home between 7 pm and 6 am.

The measures were determined by Minister Alexandre de Moraes after the PGR alleged a risk of flight for the former president, who is a defendant in the criminal case regarding the attempted coup d'état in 2022 and is due to be tried by the Supreme Court in September.