Businessman Fabrício de Souza Almeida, nephew of the former governor of Roraima Antonio Denarium (Republicans), is named by the Federal Police as head of a criminal organization that financed illegal mining in Yanomami indigenous territory. The investigation was obtained in detail by G1.
In addition to Almeida, the businessman’s aunt, Vanda Garcia de Almeida, became defendants, as well as João Alisson de Sousa Alencar Lima, Paulo Pessoa Silva, Rafael Silva Souza and Wellington de Oliveira Castro.
Denarium’s nephew and five others face criminal charges of money laundering, criminal organization and usurpation of Union assets. Together, the sentences can reach more than 20 years in prison.
Almeida and Vanda were also targets of the PF’s Operation Bal, in February 2023. At the time, agents were looking for evidence about money laundering involving the sale of illegal gold.
According to the complaint, Almeida was the operational leader of the scheme and had among his responsibilities the coordination of the group. They used the company FB Serviços, registered in the name of Denarium’s nephew, to carry out the group’s financial transactions.
According to the PF, the group moved around R$64 million between January 2017 and October 2021. The organization used this and other shell companies to raise funds. The money obtained in this way would be used to pay for machinery, fuel and pilots who participated in the mining. After the illegal extraction of the ore, the profits were divided to reimburse investors and pay members of the alleged scheme.
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The investigation took place after a complaint from the Federal Public Ministry, which asked that everyone be sentenced to pay, in addition to serving their sentence, a minimum compensation of R$500,000 for collective moral damages caused to the indigenous people.
