By BBC
Police searched the home of former President Jair Bolsonaro in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia.
The raid is part of an investigation into a group suspected of tampering with a government database holding information about Covid-19 vaccinations.
Police said the database had been altered to change the vaccination status of several unnamed individuals.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s close aide, Mauro Cid, has been arrested as part of the raid.
Federal police said “false data” had been inserted into the Covid-19 vaccination records held by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.
According to police, this was done so that the individuals whose vaccination status had been changed would be able to get the vaccination certificates necessary to enter the United States at the time.
Mr. Bolsonaro is a vocal opponent of Covid vaccinations, who repeatedly spread false information about the vaccine and its alleged side effects.
During one social media livestream in 2021, he wrongly claimed that Covid-19 vaccines increased the chance of developing Aids.
In October 2021, he said he would not get vaccinated against Covid.
In February of this year, Brazil’s anti-corruption agency – the Office of the Comptroller General – started looking into the ex-president’s vaccination status.
It found a vaccine card for him in the records held by the health ministry but warned that data could have been altered.
The false data was allegedly inserted in the records between November and December of last year.
Mr. Bolsonaro traveled to Florida at the end of December, just days before his rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was sworn into office.
He stayed in the US until 30 March.
Since his return to Brazil, he has had to appear before police on two occasions to testify in two separate investigations.
One is examining his alleged role in the storming of the Brazilian Congress by his supporters in January. He is also being investigated over whether he tried to illegally import and keep millions of dollars worth of jewelry he and his wife were given by Saudi Arabia in 2019.
The former president has not yet commented on Wednesday’s raid.
