The São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office wants Ricardo Salles to immediately step down from the Ministry of the Environment.
Prosecutors Leandro Henrique Leme and Silvio Marques, from the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of São Paulo, appealed to the Court of Justice for the immediate removal from public office of Environment Minister Ricardo Salles; Salles was convicted in the first instance in December for administrative misconduct for acts committed during his tenure as head of the São Paulo State Environment Secretariat, from July 2016 to August 2017, during the administration of Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB).
From Rede Brasil Atual - Prosecutors Leandro Henrique Leme and Silvio Marques, from the Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo, appealed to the Court of Justice this Thursday (24) for the immediate loss of public office of the Minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles. The information is from G1.
Salles was convicted in the first instance in December for administrative misconduct for acts committed during his tenure as head of the São Paulo State Environment Secretariat, from July 2016 to August 2017, during the administration of Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB). His lawyers have filed an appeal.
The court accepted the complaint from the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office, according to which the then-secretary falsified zoning maps and the draft decree of the management plan for the Várzea do Rio Tietê Environmental Protection Area (APAVRT), in Greater São Paulo, for the benefit of businessmen, mainly those in the mining sector, linked to Fiesp.
According to G1, the Ministry of the Environment was contacted, but stated that this "is a personal matter for the minister."
Brazil's Supreme Court will decide on the removal of Environment Minister Ricardo Salles.
In the document, prosecutors speak of "very serious environmental consequences" caused by the reasons that led to Salles' conviction. "It should be emphasized, in the present case, the very serious consequences of the changes introduced in the Management Plan of the APAVRT and the extent of the intended damage, considering the size of the conservation unit," the document states.
"Let us recall the case of mining, with the changes introduced by the defendants, now appellees, an activity with very detrimental consequences for the environment, as highlighted by the eminent professors from USP."
Prosecutors emphasize that the convicted individuals, "even though they were aware of the regular procedures for preparing a management plan, subverted the entire administrative process to accommodate business requests that had already been rejected at the appropriate time."
And that "Ricardo de Aquino Salles held the most important position in the São Paulo Environmental System and, even so, personally ordered fraudulent changes to be made to the APAVRT Management Plan, all of them unfavorable to the environment."
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Last Wednesday (23), the same day he met with ruralists to discuss, among other things, strategies for the approval of the Poison Package, Salles received Luiz Eduardo Fróes do Amaral Osório, executive director of sustainability and institutional relations at Vale, in his office.
Farmers in the agricultural sector are working with the Environment Minister to get the pesticide package approved.
The meeting took place two days before the collapse of the Feijão mine dam in Brumadinho, in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte. Since his appointment to the ministry, Salles had been making announcements aimed at loosening environmental legislation. He, the president, and the ruralists who control the Ministries of Agriculture and the Environment believe that global warming is a minor issue and call Ibama (the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) a "fine-issuing industry."
When he was convicted, Salles had already been chosen by then-President-elect Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) for the Ministry of the Environment. On the program Fantástico, Bolsonaro even said that if he were convicted, his chosen candidate would not be sworn in. But that's not what happened.
As soon as he took office on December 1st, Salles became embroiled in controversies with the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), criticizing a contract for the rental of pickup trucks for various uses within the agency just days before the new government took office. Fuel and insurance were also included. The then-president, Suely Araújo, resigned the following day. Among Salles' main financiers in his campaign for federal deputy (Novo-SP) are businessmen from the vehicle rental and insurance sectors.
This week, the minister once again attacked Ibama, announcing changes to the rules for fines issued by inspectors. The goal is to hinder the work of inspectors by criminalizing them, in order to benefit deforesters, miners, and other perpetrators of environmental crimes.