Mining company is held responsible for making inspection difficult; controller says that the Anti-Corruption Law was violated
The CGU (General Controllership of the Union) imposed a fine of R$ 86.3 million on Vale. In a decision published on Monday (Aug. of preserving the integrity of public management.
In a notice to the market (intact – 90 KB), Vale announced that it was aware of the decision. According to the mining company, the CGU recognized that there was no corrupt practice or involvement of senior management, applying the minimum amount of the fine provided for by law. “Vale disagrees with the conviction and will file a request for reconsideration within the next 10 days”, reads the text.
The structure’s rupture caused an avalanche of mining tailings, culminating in environmental devastation and the death of 270 people. Dozens of mining towns in the Paraopeba River basin were impacted. The CGU considered that Vale violated Federal Law 12,846 of 2013, known as the Anti-Corruption Law, which in article 5 lists harmful acts to the public administration.
The mining company was classified in 1 of the items for “hinder the investigation or inspection activity of public bodies, entities or agents, or intervene in their performance, including within the scope of regulatory agencies and supervisory bodies of the national financial system”.
According to CGU, from June to September 2018, Vale issued a statement attesting to the stability of the structure. The document is mandatory and must be submitted periodically to the ANM (National Mining Agency), the agency responsible for inspecting the activity of the sector.
Without a positive statement, Vale would be forced to halt operations at the dam. According to the decision, the mining company failed to present reliable information in the ANM system.
The elaboration of a false stability declaration was pointed out in several investigations into the Brumadinho tragedy. In the 1st stage of the Federal Police investigation, concluded in September 2019, employees from Vale and Tüv Süd, a German consultancy contracted to assess the dam’s stability, were indicted. They were accused of misrepresentation and use of false documents, for ignoring proper technical parameters and forging inspection reports and the declaration of stability.
The complaint by the MP-MG (Public Ministry of Minas Gerais), which resulted in the criminal action currently being processed in the Minas Gerais Court, pointed to collusion between Vale and Tüv Süd, who allegedly concealed the real situation of the dam. Reports from the CPIs (parliamentary commissions of inquiry) of the Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate also indicated the occurrence of manipulation in the issuance of the declaration of stability.
With information from Brazil Agency.
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