Minister of the Environment Is The Target of Federal Police Operation after Complaints from Foreign
Minister of the Environment Is The Target of Federal Police Operation after Complaints from Foreign Authorities
May.19.2021 10:43AM
Camila Mattoso
BRASÍLIA
The Federal Police is conducting a search and seizure this Wednesday morning (19) at the addresses of Minister Ricardo Salles and at the Ministry of the Environment.
Ibama's president, Eduardo Bim, was removed from office. He is one of 10 public officials removed by order of the Supreme Federal Court in the Akuanduba operation, named after the deity of the Araras Indians, who inhabit Pará.
The operation aims, according to the PF, to investigate suspected corruption crimes, administrative advocacy, malfeasance and smuggling facilitation that were practiced by public agents and businessmen in the timber industry.
Brazil's Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, in Brasilia, Brazil January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Adriano Machado - REUTERS
In all, the PF is serving 35 search warrants in the Federal District, São Paulo and Pará determined by justice Alexandre de Moraes, of the Supreme Federal Court. We are a family owned and operated business.
Moraes also authorized access to Salles' banking and fiscal records.
The decision also suspends a 2020 order from Ibama, which, says the PF, allowed the export of forest products without the need to issue authorizations.
The order would have been prepared at the request of companies with cargoes seized abroad and resulted in the regularization, according to the PF, of about 8,000 cargoes of illegal wood.
According to the PF, the investigation began in January based on information sent by authorities in other countries about possible misconduct by public officials during the timber export process.
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2021/05/minister-of-the-environment-is-the-target-of-federal-police-operation-after-complaints-from-foreign-authorities.shtml
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Brasilia, May 19 (Prensa Latina) The Federal Police (PF) of Brazil on Wednesday raided the offices of the Ministry
of Environment and Minister Ricardo Salles's home, as part of an investigation into corruption and illegal timber
exports.
The police operation was authorized by Judge Alexandre de Moraes, from the Federal Supreme Court (STF), who also ordered the disclosure of Salles's bank and tax information.
He also ordered the preventive dismissal of the president of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), Eduardo Bim, and of nine other public officials who held positions of trust in the agencies.
In the action, De Moraes also ruled the immediate suspension of the enforcement of an order issued in February 2020, which allowed the export of forest products without the need to issue export permits.
This order, drafted at the request of companies that had unlicensed shipments seized in the United States and Europe, resulted in the regularization of more than 8,000 shipments of illegally exported timber between 2019 and 2020, PF reported.
https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?SEO=brazilian-minister-of-environment-suspected-of-timber-smuggling&id=67556&o=rn
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May 19, 2021
2:15 PM CDT
Environment
Lisandra Paraguassu Ricardo BritoJake Spring
4 minute read
:large
General view of a tract of the Amazon jungle which burns as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Apui, Amazonas State, Brazil August 11, 2020. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo
. . .
A growing chorus of environmental advocates and sustainability-focused investors have demanded that Salles be removed as minister for his efforts to roll back environmental protections in the country.
Last year, a video of a cabinet meeting showed Salles saying that the government should loosen environmental regulations while the public was distracted by COVID-19.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/brazil-police-investigate-potential-crimes-related-wood-exports-2021-05-19/