Palace furniture row between Bolsonaro and Lula takes new turn in Brazil

The Brazilian government has announced the recovery of numerous furniture pieces that were previously reported missing from the official presidential residence when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva assumed office in January of the previous year.

During that time, President Lula had accused his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, of taking away 261 items upon leaving the premises. In response, Lula utilised $40,000 (£31,000) of public funds to refurbish the palace.

Subsequently, all the missing items have been located at an undisclosed location within the estate. Bolsonaro has criticised Lula, saying that he should be held accountable for falsely reporting a crime.

Former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro has claimed that the accusations of theft from the Alvorada Palace were merely a diversion to justify the expenditure on new luxury furniture items.

Lula, a left-wing politician, narrowly defeated the far-right Bolsonaro in the October 2022 election. Following the election, thousands of protesters, who refused to accept Bolsonaro’s defeat, stormed the government district in Brasilia, resulting in the ransacking of various buildings including the presidential palace and the supreme court.

Supporters of Lula have characterised these riots as an attempted coup. Bolsonaro, since leaving office just over a year ago, has asserted that he has been subjected to political persecution.

During a rally in São Paulo last month, he informed tens of thousands of supporters that the allegations of a coup against him were baseless.

Bolsonaro is currently barred from running for office for eight years due to his actions undermining the electoral system in Brazil and his unfounded claims of electoral fraud in the last election.