Brazil cancels Flávio Bolsonaro’s passports after failure to comply with court order

Police in Brazil have cancelled the passports of defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro after he failed to comply with a court order requiring him to surrender the travel documents.

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

Bolsonaro had said he had no intention of leaving Brazil, insisting he would remain in the country to lead the opposition to his left-wing rival, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

However, the deadline passed without him surrendering the documents, raising speculation that he may have left the country.

Federal police officers are checking border crossings to establish whether Bolsonaro travelled to neighbouring Argentina, according to a police source. Argentine authorities have, however, reported no record of him entering the country through any border crossing.

Bolsonaro was already under investigation over alleged corruption involving the financing of a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup and is under house arrest.

In a separate development, Brazil's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered police to investigate Flávio Bolsonaro's presidential campaign over alleged foreign funding.

The 45-year-old senator suffered a major electoral setback on Sunday after losing the presidential run-off against Lula, despite having been widely expected to win.

Opinion polls had placed Bolsonaro narrowly ahead of Lula, while his victory in the first round of voting on October 4 had strengthened expectations that he would win the run-off.

However, after initially leading in the vote count, Bolsonaro was overtaken by the veteran incumbent, who became the first presidential candidate in Brazil to overturn a first-round deficit and win the second round.

Lula secured 51.79 per cent of the vote against Bolsonaro's 48.21 per cent.

Despite the defeat, Bolsonaro has refused to concede and called for the election to be annulled.

He argued that the extension of voting by two hours on election day put him at a disadvantage, describing the move as a "dirty trick".

The extension was ordered by a Supreme Court justice following a request by both Bolsonaro's party and that of his rival.

The Liberal Party, which Bolsonaro represented, has accepted the election result but said the extension of voting hours warranted an investigation.