Bolsonaro faces hard scrutiny over military’s purchase of penile implants

Further questions have been raised about military spending on impotence treatments under Jair Bolsonaro after allegations Brazil's defense ministry had approved the purchase of penile implants costing more than half a million pounds.

Those claims followed revelations on Monday that the armed forces had forked out for more than 35,000 Viagra pills in what one leading opposition politician called an erectile "outrage".

"[We] won't allow Bolsonaro to turn Brazil into an orgy," tweeted the leftist congresswoman Vivi Reis as the disclosures sparked an online outpouring of indignation and smirks.

The military insists its acquisitions are above board. The navy and air force claimed they used Viagra to treat pulmonary hypertension. The army alleged it had bought only three silicone penile implants, rather than the 60 reported by the Brazilian media, and had spent far less than the 3.5m reais (£560,900) originally claimed. "The army healthcare system is assigned with treating male patients for various types of ailments that might require surgery for the implantation of such prostheses," it said in a statement noting that it catered to about 700,000 patients.

Bolsonaro defended the military on Wednesday telling reporters: "The armed forces buy Viagra to fight arterial hypertension as well as some rheumatic diseases". "With all due respect, it's nothing," the president said of the quantity of the erectile dysfunction drug being purchased.

Whatever the truth, the phallic furor has given Bolsonaro's political foes an unmissable chance to skewer a rightwing populist who frequently boasts of being "imbrochável" (unfloppable).

"Bolsonaro and his crew continue to laugh in the faces of Brazilians," fumed Elias Vaz, an opposition congressman who wants an investigation into the impotence remedy scandal.

Bolsonaro took office in 2019 promising to crack down on corruption and the leftist politicians, civil servants and artists he accused of sponging off the state. But critics said this week's controversy exposed how the sponging continued unabated under Bolsonaro.

About 150 million Brazilians will chose their next president in October when Latin America's largest democracy goes to the polls. Bolsonaro is trailing his leftist rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in the polls.

Lula, a two-term president from 2003 until 2011, has yet to comment on the penile row. But the 76-year-old has made a point of emphasizing his own vigor as he prepares for his sixth presidential campaign since 1989. "You can't imagine how horny I feel to fix this country," Lula said last year.