Palace furniture row between Bolsonaro and Lula takes new turn in Brazil
The Brazilian government has announced the discovery of numerous pieces of furniture that were previously reported missing from the official presidential residence when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva assumed office in January of the prior year.
At the time, President Lula accused his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, of absconding with the 261 pieces.
Subsequently, President Lula utilized $40,000 (£31,000) of public funds to refurbish the palace. All the missing items have now been located at an undisclosed location on the estate.
Mr. Bolsonaro has asserted that President Lula should be held accountable for falsely alleging a crime. Michelle Bolsonaro, the former first lady, has claimed that the accusations of theft from the modernist Alvorada Palace were merely a diversion to justify spending thousands of dollars on new luxury furniture items. In the closely contested election of October 2022, left-wing candidate Lula defeated the far-right Mr. Bolsonaro.
In the aftermath of the election, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters, who refused to accept his loss, stormed the government district in the capital Brasilia in protest, resulting in the ransacking of buildings including the presidential palace and the supreme court.
Supporters of Lula said the riots were an attempted coup.
Mr Bolsonaro says he has been a victim of political persecution since leaving office just over a year ago.
At a rally in São Paulo last month, he told tens of thousands of supporters that coup allegations against him were a “lie”.
Mr Bolsonaro is barred from running for office for eight years for undermining the electoral system in Brazil and claiming the last election was fraudulent, despite there being no evidence of electoral fraud.
