The release of Bolsonaro’s spending records shows love of high living and … ice cream | Jair Bolsonaro

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Brazil’s new government has released former President Jair Bolsonaro’s personal spending accounts, revealing the far-right leader’s apparent penchant for expensive hotels, big meals out and ice cream.

Bolsonaro, who lost his bid for re-election in October, once bragged that he had not taken “a penny” off company credit cards given to him and his closest advisers.

Although he imposed a 100-year ban on publishing records of his spending, the new government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday revealed records of the last four presidencies dating back to 2003.

Spending is broken down by date, amount, name of the place where the money was spent, and the category of company being paid. The vast majority of spending was on hotels and food.

Nine of the 10 biggest expenses made during Bolsonaro’s presidency were on a hotel in Guaruja, where the former army chief liked to spend his weekends. The corporate cards have also been used at the pet store, pharmacy, restaurants, and dozens of trips to ice cream parlors. (About £1,300 was spent on ice cream.)

The list is full of oddities, with O Globo reporting that Bolsonaro and his team spent a fortune in one day buying 659 prepared meals and 2,964 sandwiches at a restaurant in the state of Roraima.

More than 12,000 riyals (about £2,000) were spent in one sitting at a steakhouse. R$25,000 has been placed on the tab at a hamburger restaurant in the northern state of Ceará; More than 50,000 reais were delivered at a bakery in Rio de Janeiro the day before Bolsonaro took part in a motorcycle rally there, according to breakdowns in Brazilian media.

The company cards are meant to be used for travel expenses and small or urgent purchases, but the money was also spent on hunting and fishing, sports equipment, sheets, bedding, and bottled gas.

Although Bolsonaro’s spending has come under scrutiny, his total spending of 32 million reais, when adjusted for inflation, is lower than Lula’s in his first two terms between 2003 and 2011, and less than that of his successor Dilma Rousseff.

One possible reason for the discrepancy, Publica said, is that some of Bolsonaro’s spending has remained hidden behind confidentiality rules and has not yet been made public.

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