They uncover a fraudulent scheme that regularizes illegal Brazilian timber from the north of the country – 05/16/2023 – Brazil

2023-05-16 17:48:00

The Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) operation that blocked 1.2 million m³ of illegal wood (equivalent to 480 Olympic swimming pools) in the country revealed a fraud scheme called “reverse route”.

The amount would yield R$ 2 billion to the defendants, according to the agency.

The defendants used the virtual timber credit market to regularize illegally harvested material.

The institute’s intelligence team identified in the National Forest Products Control System (Sinaflor) log credits registered as originating from places where there is usually no exploitation and that were sold to companies in areas where there is a high incidence of irregular extraction.

The virtual credit is a document issued for the sale of wood. The investigation believes that the so-called “reverse route” would serve to try to pass off illegal entry as legal.

Regular farms in the Midwest and Northeast issue virtual timber credits, without necessarily having harvested the product.

_{Translated by AZAHARA MARTIN ORTEGA}

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