RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazilian hacker claimed at a Congressional listening to on Thursday that former President Jair Bolsonaro wished him to hack into the nation’s digital voting system to show its alleged weaknesses forward of the 2022 presidential election.
Walter Delgatti Neto didn’t present any proof for his declare to the parliamentary fee of inquiry. However his detailed testimony raises new allegations towards the previous far-right chief, investigated for his position within the Jan. 8 riots within the capital metropolis of Brasilia.
Delgatti additionally instructed lawmakers that he met in particular person with Bolsonaro and instructed the previous president it was not doable for him to hack the digital voting system.
The Related Press has reached out to Bolsonaro’s legal professionals who haven’t but responded. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoings.
Bolsonaro’s political nemesis, leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, gained the Oct. 30, 2022 election with simply 50.9% of the votes.
In response to Delgatti, Bolsonaro had wished the tried hack to persuade some voters that the nation’s voting system was not dependable. Delhgatti additionally mentioned he was promised a presidential pardon in case he ended up being investigated for his actions.
Bolsonaro had lengthy stoked perception amongst his hardcore supporters that the nation’s digital voting system was susceptible to fraud, although he by no means introduced any proof.
In June, a panel of judges concluded that Bolsonaro abused his energy to solid unfounded doubts on the nation’s digital voting system and barred him from operating for workplace once more till 2030.
Throughout Thursday’s listening to, Bolsonaro’s allies within the fee questioned Delegatti’s credibility.
In 2015, Delegatti was jailed for mendacity about being a federal police investigator. Two years later, he was investigated for allegedly forging paperwork, which he denies. A number of folks have additionally accused him of embezzlement — allegations that resurfaced throughout Thursday’s listening to.
In Brazil, witnesses caught mendacity earlier than a parliamentary commissions of inquiry — extra generally identified beneath its Portuguese acronym CPI — may be imprisoned, in response to Luis Claudio Araujo, a regulation professor at Ibmec College in Rio de Janeiro.
Members of parliamentary commissions have the ability to analyze, but in addition cross on info to prosecutors and federal police, Araujo mentioned.
The congressional listening to provides to the quite a few authorized complications going through Bolsonaro for actions throughout his time period in workplace.
Federal police earlier this month alleged that Bolsonaro obtained money from the practically $70,000 sale of two luxurious watches he obtained as items from Saudi Arabia whereas in workplace. Officers raided the properties and workplaces of a number of folks purportedly concerned within the case, together with a four-star military basic. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing involving the items.
“It’s stunning this considerably amateurism and naïveté of Bolsonaro’s political group in congress,” mentioned Creomar de Souza, founding father of political danger consultancy Dharma Politics. “A lot materials is documented and so they insist they’ll management the interpretation of the information and demand in conserving this congressional probe working.”
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Related Press author Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.