The judge of Brazil’s Court of Auditors, Augusto Nardes, issued a note on Monday to express his rejection of any act «of an anti-democratic and coup nature», after an audio was leaked on Sunday in which he assured that «it was a matter of days» that the country would suffer a «strong outcome».
In his statement on Monday, Nardes deeply regretted «the interpretation» that has been made of those «unpretentious» statements that were addressed «to a group of friends».
On Sunday, the newspaper ‘Folha de Sao Paulo’ published an audio in which Nardes is heard assuring that there is «a very strong movement in the barracks» and that it was «a matter of hours, days, maximum one week, two, maybe less, for a strong outcome in the nation».
Nardes also said he had received information from President Jair Bolsonaro’s team that he would be ready to «face what is going to happen to the country» despite the infection in one of his legs that has kept him in seclusion since his defeat in the October 30 elections.
«Bolsonaro woke up the conservative society and today everyone is in the streets defending those principles,» the judge is heard saying, who at another point accuses the Workers’ Party (PT) of not accepting dialogue and always seeking confrontation. «Everything is very blurry in relation to the future of the country», he assures.
In another moment of that audio, Nardes recalls how in 2015 he had the «courage», as president of this court, to lead the process that rejected the accounts of the government of former president Dilma Rousseff (PT), which later became the basis for the ‘impeachment’ that removed her from office.
