Brazil’s Public Prosecutor asks Supreme Court to investigate Minister of Environment

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Monday, May 31, the Brazilian Public Prosecutor’s Office asked the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to investigate the Minister of Environment, Ricardo Salles, for alleged interference in the investigations and audits of environmental crimes in the Amazon.

The request, signed by the deputy prosecutor general, Humberto Jacques de Medeiros, was based on a complaint filed in mid-April by the then superintendent of the Federal Police in the state of Amazonas, Alexandre Saraiva, in which he pointed out “irregularities” in the conduct of the minister and other officials of the portfolio.

Saraiva said that Salles and other authorities interfered in the investigations of Operation Handroanthus, which culminated in the record seizure of 226,763 cubic meters of wood allegedly extracted illegally in the Amazon, in addition to carrying out the “public defense of loggers investigated in operation”.

The Prosecutor’s Office called for a more in-depth investigation of the case, considering that the records of the complaint filed by Saraiva indicated “several episodes of action by these civil servants” with the objective of “promoting the regularization of irregularly exported cargo”.

“Such scenario evidences, in a broad manner, the need to deepen the investigation of the facts reported to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Federal Supreme Court, regarding the actions of the aforementioned political agent”, Medeiros stressed.

In the document, the prosecutor asked Cármen Lúcia, the investigating Justice, for authorization for the Federal Police to take statements from the Minister and the other accused, among other procedures.

If authorized, this will be the second investigation directly involving Salles to be supervised by the Supreme Court.

A few days ago, the Federal Police launched operation “Akuanduba”, which investigates whether the Minister of the Environment and other authorities facilitated the illegal export of timber to the United States and Europe.

On that occasion, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes determined breaking the bank and tax secrecy of Salles, a confidant of President Jair Bolsonaro, and ordered the “immediate suspension” of 10 officials of the Ministry and the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama) – the government body responsible for environmental protection policies – among them its president, Eduardo Bim.

After the action, Salles described the operation as “exaggerated” and “unnecessary”, stressed that there was “never” any orchestrated action between Ibama and the Ministry of Environment to facilitate the alleged illegal export of timber, and emphasized that all the officials of his portfolio were always available to the authorities to testify.