Brazilian authorities will lay criminal charges against iron ore giant Vale (NYSE: VALE), 13 of its employees and German auditor T脺V S脺D, accusing them of fraud in relation to a deadly dam burst at the company鈥檚 C贸rrego do Feij茫o mine in January.
Police said the companies presented fake documents backing the stability of the dam, which collapsed, killing nearly 250 people and unleashing a gush of mining waste on nearby towns.
Penalties for these kinds of crimes can be of up to 18 years in jail.
Police said the companies presented fake documents backing the stability of the dam that collapsed in January
The Rio de Janeiro-based company it was 鈥渁ware of the police investigation,鈥� but wouldn鈥檛 comment further until it analyzes 鈥渢he full content of the report.鈥�
Police also said it didn鈥檛 rule out the possibility of taking executives from both Vale T脺V S脺D to court on accusations of homicide and environmental damage聽in coming days, local .
Seven people from Vale and six from T眉v S眉d are being indicted, according to the paper. By law, police can only formally accuse suspects. It鈥檚 up to prosecutors the filing of charges before a judge.
Brazilian market regulator CVM has also opened at least two different administrative probes into Vale鈥檚 handling of the disaster, while the company faces more than one class action in the US.
One of them, led by a group of investors, argues that Vale did not disclose information about risks facing the dam in question to the market, even though聽it was aware of it.
Earlier this year, the world鈥檚 top iron ore producer announced聽聽(400 million Brazilian real) to workers impacted by the rupture聽of the dam and said it would spend R$1.8 billion ($471 million) by 2023 on several projects to stabilize remaining structures at the C贸rrego do Feij茫o mine.
Other programs include reducing tailings flow into the Paraopeba river and ensuring proper disposal of tailings and rebuilding public facilities. The projects are expected to generate around 2,500 jobs.聽
None of Vale鈥檚 top executives at the time of the tailings dam burst, the company鈥檚 worst crisis in its 76-year history, have been charged.