Brazil's federal police cancelled the passports of defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro on Tuesday after he failed to comply with a Supreme Court order to surrender them within 24 hours, the police said. The documents were seized as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering, which Bolsonaro denies.
The 45-year-old senator lost a run-off election on Sunday to left-wing incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won 51.79% of the vote compared to Bolsonaro's 48.21%. Despite trailing by 4.4 million votes, Bolsonaro has not conceded. He called for the election to be annulled, arguing that a two-hour extension of polling on election day disadvantaged him, though both his party and Lula's party had requested that extension.
On Monday, after the Supreme Court ordered him to hand over his passports, Bolsonaro said he had no plans to leave Brazil and would stay to lead the opposition. The deadline passed without compliance. Federal officers checked border crossings to determine whether Bolsonaro had travelled to Argentina, according to a police source consulted by BBC News Brasil. Argentine authorities told the BBC they have no record of Bolsonaro entering the country through any border crossing.
The investigation into alleged money laundering is one of several legal matters involving Bolsonaro. He is already under investigation for alleged corruption related to financing of a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup and is under house arrest. On Tuesday, Brazil's Supreme Court also ordered police to investigate Bolsonaro's electoral campaign over alleged foreign funding.
The Liberal Party, which Bolsonaro represented, has accepted the election result, though it said the voting extension "merits investigation."