***********************************************

WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Amazon Timber Stewards Busted for Bribes

***********************************************

Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org, Inc.

     http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives & Portal

 

10/14/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Corruption is rife within the tropical timber industry.  In the

latest example, Brazilian timber inspectors have been filmed taking

bribes--surely illustrating only a small part of the problem.  Much

of the tropical log industry is predicated on illegal activities to

access large areas of pristine rainforest resources at the cheapest

cost, doing whatever is necessary to get out the cut.  The incentives

are so great, and the penalties so few, that 80% of the logging done

in the Amazon is estimated to be illegal.  The ecosystem disruption

caused by this wanton destruction is morally reprehensible and

threatens our Planet's and its occupant's well-being.  Forward

thinking governments, NGOs and citizen advocates must demand and then

implement policy to stop the illegal plunder of our ancient

rainforests.

g.b.

 

*******************************

RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

 

Title:  Amazon timber stewards busted for bribes 

Source:  Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network

Date:  October 11, 2000  

Byline:  By Robin Eveleigh

 

Video evidence documents IBAMA officials accused of accepting bribe

to log Brazilian forest area.

 

Three forest guardians working for the Brazilian government were

suspended from their jobs and face a prison sentence after being

filmed taking bribes from an Amazon timber company.

 

The trio was charged with extortion based on video evidence provided

by Avelino de Dea, owner of the timber company Dea Industrias. The

perpetrators could be jailed for up to eight years if found guilty.

 

Jos, Mavan, Jos, Alcy Freitas and Pedro FranOa Dias, who work for The

Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Natural Renewable

Resources, commonly known in Brazil as Ibama, were on a two-day

inspection of Dea Industrias based in Marab in the Amazon state of

Par .

 

The trio was secretly filmed by Dea asking for $2,500 to "forget" a

$25,000 fine for illegal logging. Dea bargained the bribe down to

$1,500, receiving a promise that his fine would be reduced to around

$2,500.

 

"Mr. Dea has been the victim of extortion in the past, and he knew it

would happen again when he was told his company was up for

inspection," said Orlando Martello, the Brazilian attorney

prosecuting the case.

 

"He filmed the inspectors over the two days every time they came into

his office, and then brought the tape to me in August. Following our

investigation, the three employees have been charged and removed from

their posts."

 

According to a report by Greenpeace, 80 percent of all logging in the

Amazon is illegal. "For the most part, forest management plans are

not followed but are used merely to satisfy a legal requirement," the

report notes. "Logging is highly wasteful, with two-thirds of all

logged timber ending up as unusable fragments or sawdust."

 

A survey conducted by Friends of the Earth International, cited in

Greenpeace's report, reveals a pitifully low collection rate for

fines arising from environmental crime in the Amazon region. "In

1996, it is estimated that only 13 percent were collected," the

report notes.

 

This is not the first time Ibama officials have been accused of

corruption. In May, one of the Amazon's most prominent defenders,

Paulo Castelo Branco, was snared by Brazil's Federal Police for

allegedly taking a bribe worth almost $1 million from Japanese timber

company Eidai.

 

In his seven months as head of Ibama's base in Par 's capital, Belem,

Branco achieved a state record with seizures of illegal timber

totaling 60,000 cubic meters. He had been removed from his post in

April pending inquiries into his own corruption claims against

colleagues. He is still awaiting trial.

 

Branco's successor, Selma Bara MelgaOo, said a complete review of

Ibama's timber inspection procedures is ongoing.

 

She said she knew of the latest corruption scandal more than a month

ago after receiving a transcript of conversations between her

employees and Dea. "There was nothing I could do until the

investigation was complete," she said. "All our procedures are being

reviewed. They make it too easy to demand bribes."

 

Martello said he could not rule out the possibility of more Ibama

workers facing corruption charges. "We've had a lot of

denunciations," he said. "Some of them we have not been able to

prove, and we're still looking at others."

 

"It's impossible to find a timber company here that's 100 percent

clean," he said. "Such a thing does not exist."

 

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS### 

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is

distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior

interest in receiving forest conservation informational materials for

educational, personal and non-commercial use only.  Recipients should

seek permission from the source to reprint this PHOTOCOPY.  All

efforts are made to provide accurate, timely pieces, though ultimate

responsibility for verifying all information rests with the reader. 

For additional forest conservation news & information please see the

Forest Conservation Archives & Portal at URL= http://forests.org/ 

Networked by Forests.org, Inc., grbarry@students.wisc.edu