Flávio Bolsonaro's lawyers have told BBC Brasil that they are "completely in the dark" following uncertainty about the presidential candidate's whereabouts.

“I can't give you a statement. I'm completely in the dark. We knew nothing about this, and we still have no information about what happened," one lawyer tells the BBC.

They add that Rogério Marinho, Bolsonaro's campaign manager, is expected to speak on behalf of the campaign as soon as they know exactly what happened.

Image source, Getty Images

Flávio Bolsonaro is the subject of two investigations currently pending before the Supreme Federal Court.

One regarding possible irregularities in the transfer of nearly $70 million from private bank Banco Master to the film Dark Horse – a biopic of Flávio’s father and former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

The second investigation relates to alleged money laundering, both of which Bolsonaro denies.

The presidential candidate is set to lose his parliamentary immunity on 31 January, when his eight-year Senate term ends.

Ione Wells
North America correspondent

Brazil’s Supreme Court tells me it does not have further information about the whereabouts of Flávio Bolsonaro at the time of writing.

"The proceedings appear to be confidential," it said.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to hand his passports over to police within 24 hours as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering, which he denies.

At the time, Bolsonaro said he had no plans to leave the country, and insisted that he would stay in Brazil to lead the opposition to his left-wing rival, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

But the deadline has passed without the senator surrendering the passports, prompting speculation he may have left the country.

Vanessa Buschschlüter
Latin America and Caribbean editor

Image source, EPA

Flávio Bolsonaro's passports were cancelled after he failed to surrender the documents to police in the 24-hour deadline he had been allotted.

The order to hand over the passports was given by a Supreme Court justice: Alexandre de Moraes.

Moraes is investigating allegations that Bolsonaro was involved in a money laundering scheme and the decision that he should surrender the passports is part of that probe.

Such a measure is sometimes taken to prevent the person under investigation from leaving the country.

Investigators want to ensure that they have access to the person so that they can question them. It does not necessarily mean that they plan to arrest them - it means they do not want them to leave the jurisdiction where the investigation is being held.

We have little information because Moraes did not make the order public.

In fact, the order to surrender the passports only became public when Bolsonaro himself revealed it to the press on Monday.

At the time, he said he had no plans to leave, and that he would hand over the documents.

However, the deadline passed without doing so, and speculation that he had left the country has become feverish.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've reported, the Bolsonaro family has close ties to US President Donald Trump.

Brazil's election result was announced on Sunday night, with Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva winning a fourth term in office. The result came as a surprise after the younger Bolsonaro won the first round on 4 October

On Monday, Trump told reporters that it "looked like another rigged election".

Asked about the result, Trump told reporters it looked "so corrupt" and "so terrible", adding: "I didn't take sides, but it was a terrible look for the world".

"Elections have to be indisputable, and it looked very bad to me," he added. Lula won 51.79% of the vote, compared to Bolsonaro's 48.21%.

But the US president added that he "likes" Brazil's left-wing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, adding that the pair get along "very well".

Trump had not explicitly endorsed Lula's rival Flávio Bolsonaro during the election campaign, but was a close ally of Bolsonaro's father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Image source, Getty Images

The Bolsonaro family has close ties with the Trump administration.

Flávio Bolsonaro's father, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, also travelled to the US shortly after he lost the 2022 election to Lula, the very same man who defeated his son on Sunday.

While Jair Bolsonaro was in the US, his supporters stormed government buildings in the capital Brasília on 8 January 2023.

After he returned to Brazil in March 2023, the older Bolsonaro was charged with attempting to overthrow Lula.

He was sentenced to 27 years in jail and is currently under house arrest after being moved from his cell due to recurrent health issues.

Flávio Bolsonaro, who is normally very active on social media, has not made any public statements in the past 21 hours.

The last time the senator made any kind of public announcement was in the form of a video uploaded to social media on Monday afternoon local time.

In that video, he insisted that he had never considered leaving Brazil.

However, on Tuesday, he failed to comply with an order to surrender his passports and missed the deadline to hand them over to police.

The man who had ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports was Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the same judge who presided over the trial of his father, Jair Bolsonaro.

The older Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup after he was beaten in the 2022 election by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the very man who on Sunday defeated Flávio Bolsonaro in the run-off.

Image source, Reuters

Ione Wells
North America correspondent

Police in Brazil have cancelled the passports of Flávio Bolsonaro, after he failed to comply with an order to surrender the documents within 24 hours.

He hasn't made public statements for 21 hours. The last time he spoke publicly was through a video published yesterday afternoon on his social networks, where he said he never thought about leaving the country.

The order to surrender his passports was made on Monday. He confirmed this in a statement and said he was summoned by police when visiting his father.

Yesterday, in the video released on his Instagram and also sent by his press office, Bolsonaro said that he would deliver the passports, comply, and would continue working as political opposition to Lula.

There has been speculation he tried to leave the country after Argentine media said there was a plan for him to cross into Argentina and take a flight on a private plane to the United States - but that the plane didn’t take off.

Argentine migration authorities said they had not registered his entry into the country.

They said: “Due to the media escalation due to the presence of a private plane at Iguazú International Airport, the authorities proceeded to initiate controls corresponding to the aircraft and crew. Finally, it was found that the company's documentation is in order and no flight plan including the Bolsonaro family was presented.”

His brother Eduardo lives in Texas and had earlier said that if Bolsonaro lost the election he should leave Brazil. The candidate suggested that this was what prompted what he’s alleged is a politically motivated request to take his passport.

Brazil's election result was announced on Sunday night, seeing Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva winning a fourth term in office.

He beat his right-wing challenger, Flávio Bolsonaro, who is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.

The result came as a surprise after the younger Bolsonaro won the first round on 4 October and polls had put him ahead of Lula going into the run-off on Sunday.

But Lula's camp gained momentum ahead of election day, and ending up winning 51.79% of the vote, compared to Flávio Bolsonaro's 48.21%.

Bolsonaro has not conceded, arguing that he had been put at a disadvantage by polling being extended by two hours on election day - even though the extension had been requested by both his party and that of his rival.

The Liberal Party, whose candidate he was, however, has accepted the result.

Police in Brazil say they have cancelled the passports of the defeated right-wing presidential candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, after he failed to comply with an order to surrender them.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to hand his passports over to police within 24 hours as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering, which he denies.

At the time, Bolsonaro said he had no plans to leave the country. However, the deadline has passed without the senator surrendering the passports, prompting speculation he may have left.

Federal officers are checking border crossings to establish if Bolsonaro may have travelled to neighbouring Argentina, a police source tells BBC News Brasil. But Argentine authorities have told the BBC there is no record of Bolsonaro entering their country through any border crossing.

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