Brazil environment minister probed for timber trafficking

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon surged by 85 per cent in his first year in office, destroying an area bigger than Puerto Rico, according to government data. It has continued at a high rate since, last month setting a new record for April at 581 square kilometers

Brazil's Environment Minister Ricardo Salles gestures during a news conference on 22 April, 2021AFP

Brazil's Supreme Court ordered an investigation of the country’s environment minister Ricardo Salles as police raided ministry offices on 19 May, targeting a timber trafficking scheme allegedly involving him and other top officials in far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's government.

The ruling by Justice Alexandre de Moraes said federal police had evidence that Salles and other environmental officials were involved in an "extremely serious scheme to facilitate the trafficking of rainforest products."

It suspended 10 officials from their posts, including Eduardo Bim, head of Brazilian environmental protection agency IBAMA, and granted police access to Salles's bank accounts to look for evidence of illicit income.

Salles, one of the most controversial figures in Bolsonaro's government, has presided over a surge of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, and activists accuse him of dismantling Brazil's environmental protection programmes.

Brazilian media reported police had searched Salles's home in Sao Paulo as part of the operation.

Under the alleged scheme, IBAMA waived requirements for timber exporters, and granted retroactive authorisation to thousands of wood shipments exported in violation of environmental regulations in 2019 and 2020.

Some of the shipments had been seized by US and European authorities.

IBAMA allegedly instituted the policy over the objections of its own staff shortly after Salles and Bim met with representatives of three companies whose shipments had been seized.

Moraes's ruling revoked the IBAMA policy with immediate effect.

However, Salles, 45, denied wrongdoing. "These alleged acts never happened," he told journalists.

The news was the latest blow to Brazil's environmental track record under Bolsonaro.

The destruction of the Amazon, a vital resource for curbing climate change, has accelerated in Brazil since the former army captain took office in 2019.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon surged by 85 per cent in his first year in office, destroying an area bigger than Puerto Rico, according to government data. It has continued at a high rate since, last month setting a new record for April at 581 square kilometers.

Activists and experts say Salles has facilitated environmental destruction rather than fighting it.

The Climate Observatory, a coalition of Brazilian environmental groups, said Salles had "acted against the environment from the day he set foot in his ministry."

"The fact is that Salles set up an all-out environmental crime office right in the environment ministry. And one day, he'll have to pay the price," said executive secretary Marcio Astrini.