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Reuters reported that federal police in Brazil have told Samarco Mineracao SA that some of its executives have been accused of crimes regarding last November’s tailings dam burst.
Reuters reported that federal police in Brazil have told Samarco Mineracao SA that some of its executives have been accused of crimes regarding last November’s tailings dam burst. The company is co-owned by Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) and BHP Billiton Ltd. (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BLT).
As quoted in the market news:
Brazilian news website G1 said miner Vale SA, which co-owns Samarco along with BHP Billiton , Samarco CE Ricardo Vescovi, and a consulting firm that had audited the broken dam were also accused of unspecified crimes.
The federal police could not be reached to confirm the report. In Brazil, only prosecutors, not police, can press formal charges and open a lawsuit, but the police accusations could be a sign charges are on the way.
Vale said in a statement it had been surprised by reports of the accusations and would prove that Vale was not responsible.
Vale and Samarco are already facing civil lawsuits over the November disaster but individual executives of the companies have not yet been prosecuted in what the government considers Brazil’s worst-ever environmental disaster.
Samarco said in a statement it did not agree with the accusations as a technical analysis of the causes of the dam burst had not been completed.