The group identified as a criminal organization in the exploitation of minerals in the Yanomami Indigenous Land used a suspended license on October 21 as an argument in court in favor of the freedom of one of those investigated.
Celso Rodrigo de Mello, son of Bolsonarist businessman Rodrigo Martins de Mello, was arrested by the Federal Police on November 5, in compliance with a decision by the Federal Court in Roraima. The two are suspected of being part of a group that exploits mines in Yanomami land.
After the arrest, Celso’s defense filed a request for provisional release to Justice, for the arrest to be revoked, with the argument that the activities carried out are lawful, as stated in a statement by the MPF (Federal Public Prosecution Service).
According to the Attorney General’s Office, documents such as a copy of operating license number 14/19, dated May 28, 2020, issued by Femarh (State Foundation for the Environment and Water Resources), were attached to the petition. The environmental agency of the government of Roraima is responsible for operating licenses for activities such as gold mining.
When the request for release was made, the license had already been suspended for at least 15 days. The suspension took place on October 21, and the ordinance was published in the Official Gazette of Roraima on the 26th of the same month, according to information from Femarh.
The body’s president, Glicério Fernandes, confirmed to Sheet that this is a single license for Rodrigo Mello, a single licensing process, in the same geographical position for the exploration of ores – cassiterite, gold and diamond.
According to the G1 portal, Celso was released by the Federal Court, in a decision by the TRF (Federal Regional Court) of the 1st Region. The release took place between the 23rd and 24th of November.
In a note, Rodrigo and Celso’s defense stated that the reasons for the request for preventive detention relate to “facts other than those questioned and prior to October 2022”.
“It is legally indifferent to the fact that the license was supposedly suspended in the month of October of this year, due to an alleged irregularity that can be corrected, which does not even constitute a crime”, said the lawyer Ana Paula de Souza Cruz.
According to Femarh, satellite images showed deforestation in violation of the license granted. There was a fine, embargo of the undertaking and suspension of the authorization.
The suspicion of the PF and the MPF is that the license was used as a pretext for exploring gold and cassiterite mines in the indigenous land. The authorization allowed exploration only in a polygon in the rural area of ​​Amajari, 155 km from the capital Boa Vista.
Investigations point to irregularities and “serious inconsistencies” in the license. The authorization was transferred to the name of Mello, better known as Rodrigo Cataratas, in July of this year.
Cataratas was a candidate for federal deputy for the PL, President Jair Bolsonaro’s party. Both were defeated at the polls.
The president of Femarh said that an investigation on the spot could lead to the definitive revocation of the license if it is found that the area is not used. Any inconsistencies must be investigated by the PF, according to Fernandes.
According to a complaint by the MPF, the group exploited gold and cassiterite in the indigenous land at least between January 2018 and August 2021.
The existing authorization concerns the extraction of diamonds, gold and cassiterite in Amajari. The ANM (National Mining Agency) only approved in August of this year the inclusion of cassiterite in the mining permission, according to the MPF.
According to an analysis carried out by the PF, the license is in the third amendment, the last one being in July, to include the possibility of exploring cassiterite.
The police pointed out inconsistencies in the date displayed before the signatures of the document. The date –May 28, 2020– would be inconsistent with other time references present in the license.
In the mining polygon, “no signs of human intervention were seen between January 2020 and January 2022 that would indicate ore extraction”, according to the police analysis.
Already GPS records from the group’s helicopter, hidden spreadsheets, videos and telephone messages show numerous flights to Yanomami territory, according to investigations.
Mello was denounced by the Public Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of being the leader of a criminal organization that exploits illegal mining in the Yanomami area.
The accusation includes Mello, his son Celso, a sister of the businessman, two other people and a group company.
The defense of the businessman and family members said that the clients were not cited by the Justice and that it did not have access to the content of the complaint.
“There is an ongoing institutional persecution of Rodrigo and his family, due to what they insist on turning a blind eye to, that is, the serious discoveries that promote questions about the suitability of the investigations, the acts of some public servants and the authority that conducted the investigation. “, said the lawyer Ana Paula Cruz.
Mello’s defense said that the businessman has already proved that the businessman does not extract ore from the Yanomami Indigenous Land and has mining licenses in Roraima, Rondônia and Pará.
“The cassiterite object of commercialization of its activity was a mineral product extracted in Rondônia, according to the invoices already attached to the TRF of the 1st Region”, he stated.
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