Brazilian Prosecutors and Supreme Court Announce R$1 Billion for the Amazon

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The federal prosecutor-general (PGR), Raquel Dodge, and the federal solicitor general (AGU), André Mendonça, said yesterday, September 5th, an agreement has been reached with Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), that R$1 billion (US$250 million) from Petrobras is intended for actions to preserve the environment, especially in the Amazon Forest region.

The two met with Moraes on the morning of Thursday, September 5th. According to reports, the minister should render his decision soon that will confirm the allocation of resources. Also participating in the meeting were the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre, and the Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina.

Of this R$1 billion, at least R$400 million must be transferred to the states of the Amazon region. “The defense of the Amazon, which is Brazilian heritage, is very important and it now has resources that will go to the area of agriculture, for technical assistance, for land regularization, for prevention of fires, and also for the regeneration of the forest,” added the PGR.

Fund

Justice Moraes is rapporteur of a suit that deals with the allocation of more than R$2.5 billion that Petrobras has committed to passing on to Brazilian authorities after an agreement with the U.S. government. The amount refers to compensation for losses caused to foreign investors as a result of the corruption cases investigated in Lava Jato.

The amount is frozen in a Caixa Econômica Federal account by a temporary restraining order by Minister Alexandre de Moraes that was issued in March at the request of the PGR.

At first, the funds were to be allocated to a foundation linked to the task-force of Lava Jato in Paraná, according to an agreement signed between the operation and the U.S. government, but Moraes adjudged that allocation illegal after it was investigated by the PGR.

Amazon

Initially, the PGR advocated that the entire amount be allocated to the federal government and used in the areas of education and science, but after the repercussions of the increase in forest fires in the Amazon this year, it requested that part of the money be allocated to the environment. A few days earlier, the leadership of the Chamber of Deputies, on the initiative of its President, Rodrigo Maia, had made a similar request.

On Thursday, September 5th, the agreement was signed by the PGR, the AGU, and the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber, as well as the attorney general of the National Treasury, José Levi Mello do Amaral Jr., and was sent to Moraes with a petition for approval. The document foresees that the federal government will use R$ 630 million in Law and Order Guarantee (GLO) actions in the Amazon (Ministry of Defense), and in other environmental programs of forest preservation (Ministry of Environment). Another R$ 430 million should be sent to the states.

Education and science

The agreement sent to Moraes also foresees that R$1 billion should be allocated to actions related to early childhood education (Ministry of Education) and that R$250 million should be spent on early childhood development (Ministry of Citizenship). Another R$250 million should go towards the payment for research and development scholarships for new technologies (Ministry of Science and Technology) and finally, R$100 million should be allocated to socio-educational actions in cooperation with the states (Ministry of Women, Family, and Human Rights).