The Federal Court acquitted the company and other companies involved in the collapse of the Fundão Dam, which occurred in 2015 in Mariana (MG).
The Federal Regional Court of the 6th Region, based in Ponte Nova, declared that there was insufficient evidence to establish the direct and individual criminal responsibility of the defendants.
In addition to Samarco, the companies Vale (), VogBR and BHP Billiton were acquitted, as well as seven people, including directors and technicians, including the president of Samarco at the time, Ricardo Vescovi.
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The dam collapse on November 5, 2015 caused the destruction of the districts of Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu de Baixo, resulting in the deaths of 19 people and the devastation of entire communities.
The court’s decision was published this Thursday morning (14). The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) has already announced that it will appeal the sentence.
The case, which was being processed in the criminal sphere, also involved issues related to the environmental damage caused by the disaster.
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In October 2016, the MPF had indicted 22 people and four companies, including Samarco and its controlling companies, for a series of crimes, such as qualified homicide and environmental crimes. However, all accused were acquitted.
Over the years, homicide crimes were removed from the process. In 2019, the Federal Court ruled that the deaths were a result of the flooding and not the direct actions of the defendants.
Furthermore, many environmental crimes ended up becoming time-barred over time, making it difficult to hold the companies involved accountable.
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The sentence that acquitted the defendants highlighted that, despite the evidence of damage caused by the dam collapse, it was not possible to attribute specific conduct that constituted the crime.
The Fundão Dam disaster, which spilled approximately 40 million cubic meters of mining waste, contaminated the Doce River and its tributaries, reaching the Atlantic Ocean, in Espírito Santo.
In a separate trial in London, BHP, one of Samarco’s controlling shareholders, was confronted with information that indicated the company was aware of the risks associated with the dam collapse.
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Documents presented during the trial revealed that, in 2010, BHP estimated that the collapse could cause up to 100 deaths and that there were no evacuation drills carried out in the area.
The spreadsheet presented in court showed that the company expected a total expenditure of US$1.25 billion to pay fines, compensations and reparations, in addition to warning that the population of Bento Rodrigues would be at risk in the event of a breach.
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