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Chairman of Bolsonaro’s right wing party sells farm to Dutch company involved in Ponzi-scheme and drugs- trafficking.

Afbeelding met persoon, binnen, person, kostuum Automatisch gegenereerde beschrijving

President of Bolsonaro’s right-wing Liberal Party is a partner of the coordinator of the “Mining is Cool Movement” (Movimento Garimpo é Legal)

Afbeelding met persoon, binnen, person, kostuum Automatisch gegenereerde beschrijving

Valdemar Costa Neto sold part of his farm to Francisco Jonivaldo Mota Campos, who represents a Dutch company, whose partners have been convicted of ponzi schemes and international drug trafficking.

By Tonsk Fialho and Alceu Luís Castilho

Chairman of the political party of Jair Bolsonaro (PL, Liberal Party), Valdemar Costa Neto is a partner at Agropecuária Patauá, a company that sells wood and conducts agricultural and livestock activities. During his third term as federal delegate, in 2000, Valdemar sold 75% of Patauá to a group of Dutch investors, Eco Brasil BV, represented by Brazilian Francisco Jonivaldo Mota Campos. Today, “Joni”, as he is known, works as coordinator of the “Garimpo É Legal Movement” in the state of Amazonas. He has also been a member of the Liberal Party since 2007.

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Joni, from Movimento Garimpo é Legal, with his Dutch partners. (Photo: Facebook)

In Europe (Netherlands) Eco Brasil BV acquired a stake in Valdemar’s company through its subsidiary Reflorestadora Holanda. Eco Brasil operated a financial pyramid scheme wherethrough hundreds of families were duped. A number of managers involved ended up in prison, convicted for selling misleading investment plans based on reforestation of degraded land. In Brazil, some Dutch managers of the company were accused of land grabbing and involvement in drug trafficking.

The history of the Valdemar family in the municipality of Itacoatiara (Amazonas) begins in the seventies, when Waldemar Costa Filho, the father of Valdemar Costa Neto, ventured into the Amazon rainforest in collaboration with businessperson Fumio Horii in kaolin mining (a raw material for the paper and ceramics industry). He was a compatriot and good friend of the family from Mogi das Cruzes (Sao Paulo). In the city, the current president of Bolsonaro’s party is known by the suggestive nickname “Boy”. His father was mayor of Mogi four times, and an important businessman in the transport and mining sector.

MINING COMPANY ADOPTS THE INITIALS OF VALDEMAR, THE ‘BOY’

In the sector, Valdemar followed his father’s footsteps by founding VCN Mineração in 1996, named after the initials of the then still deputy of the LP. Today, the chairman of Bolsonaro’s party is no longer part of VCN’s corporate structure, but – notwithstanding that – Valdemar Costa Neto was convicted last year in second instance for the degradation of an area equal to 28 football fields by the company, on the banks of the Tietê River, in Biritiba-Mirim, in the interior of São Paulo.

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Valdemar da Costa Neto’s partner in a Bolsonarista act. (Photo: Facebook)

One year before the death of Valdemar’s father, on February 7, 2000, the 49-hectare estate in Itacoatiara (Amazonas) was transferred to VCN Mineração. Just over two weeks later, on 25 February 2000, the delegate sold 75% of Agropecuária Patauá to Reflorestadora Holanda, which had been active in the Amazon since at least 1998.

At the time, Eco Brasil already built up a bad reputation, through its participation in the illegal logging company Eco-Brasil-Holanda-Andirá, led by the former honorary consul of the Netherlands in Pará, Gerardus Bartels. In 1999, the Dutch consul was the subject to a parliamentary commission of inquiry (CPI) in the Amazonas Legislative Assembly, on charges of circumventing the Brazilian constitution by illegally acquiring more than seventy thousand hectares of forest. In addition, about three hundred families living along the river in the region were forced to allot the entire area for logging activities.

The consul denied the allegations, claiming to be the victim of a trap by Eco Brasil BV. Convinced of selling 90% of the wood to the Dutch group, the consul would have discovered that Eco Brasil BV was in fact transferring parts of the forest to third parties. For $3,000 per hectare, interested parties could acquire an area where Eco Brasil promised to plant teak, an Asian species widely used for reforestation. Subsequently, the profits from the management activities would be shared with the investors.

Bartels fled and Eco Brasil BV began to claim a large part of the hectares occupied by the former honorary consul. In the years that followed, Eco Brasil’s sophisticated investment proposal turned out to be a financial pyramid scheme. A search for the company’s history in the Netherlands leads to online forums where some of the duped families insist on compensation and custodial sentences for those involved.

DUTCH JOURNALIST INVESTIGATES NETWORKS OF LAND GRABBING (GRILAGEM) IN AMAZONAS

About forty million euros were funneled to other companies, in addition to spendings on real estate, casinos, cars, travel, and so on. It was the pot calling the kettle black, since the speculation with the land seized by consul Gerardus Bartels was for real. Eco Brasil even created a forest capitalization plan, aimed at the rapid and fraudulent enrichment of its directors.

Details of this story were told in the pre-publication of the book “The Forest of Amazonas”, by Gio Ferrarius, a Dutch journalist. Some of those involved unsuccessfully filed summary proceedings with the Dutch court to prohibit the publication of the work. The author collaborated with De Olho nos Ruralistas to investigate Valdemar’s involvement in the Eco Brasil BV case.

<img class=”wp-image-2233″ src=”https://www.gioferrarius.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/afbeelding-met-tekst-automatisch-gegenereerde-bes-1.jpeg” alt=”Afbeelding met tekst

Automatisch gegenereerde beschrijving” />Valdemar Costa Neto, the “Boy”, guarantees Bolsonaro’s campaign. (Photo: Alan Rios/Reproduction)

Valdemar Costa Neto’s real estate in Itacoatiara (Amazonas) was part of the portfolio of the Dutch company, which used Brazilian cover- entities to operate in the country. Eco Brasil did not even have a permit to operate the project, nor did it own most of the properties it claimed to possess. According to the Dutch court, the group’s illegal activities took place between 1999 and 2004, but the transfer of VCN Mineração’s property to Reflorestadora Holanda did not take place until 2005, the year of the “Mensalão” parliamentary inquiry (a major scandal involving the purchase of parliamentary votes), that culminated in the arrest of Costa Neto, currently chairman of Bolsonaro’s party.

In 2006, PJ Quak, one of the leaders of the Dutch organization, was sentenced to six years in prison in the Netherlands. Due to the legal turmoil faced by its partners, Reflorestadora Holanda and Agropecuária Patauá eventually became “dormant” companies, piling up unfinished labor- law cases and tax liabilities. In 2017. The 49-hectare area connected to Valdemar was eventually pledged due to debts of Reflorestadora Holanda to the Federal Government.

PARTNER OF “BOY” REPRESENTS DUTCH SUSPECTED OF BEING ENGAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL ILLEGAL TRADE

Owner of Reflorestadora Holanda and Brazilian representative of Eco Brasil BV Francisco Jonivaldo Mota Campos, partner of Valdemar Costa Neto, is still highly active on social media, where he posts daily messages of support for Jair Bolsonaro and keeps in regular contact with his friends in the Netherlands. In the act of incorporation of Reflorestadora Holanda the names of R. G. van den Heuvel and T. Hoegee surface as partners in the company.

Both were investigated for international drug trafficking in the Federal Police’s Operation Niva in 2011, when members of organized crime in the Balkan region, operating in cooperation with the PCC in Brazil, were arrested. Primeira Comando da Capital is Brazil’s largest criminal organization, with 20,000 members, 6,000 of whom remain in captivity. According to the Federal Police, those involved were part of a “criminal organization engaged in drug trafficking from Brazil to Europe, including the use of the Amazon as an exit route for cocaine”. None of the Dutch people surveyed has been convicted in Brazil to date.

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Production by one of the companies of Joni Matos Campos. (Photo: Instagram)

Questioned by the daily newspaper Folha for his collaboration with Valdemar in Agropecuária Patauá, Joni Mota Campos limited himself to say that he had never met the president of the Liberal Party. However, data from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) shows that Joni has been a member of the PL since October 2007, the year Valdemar was elected for his fifth term as federal deputy, after resigning in 2005 due to the consequences of the “monthly allowance-affaire’ (the Mensalão-investigation). In the Folha report, Joni stated that the two companies, Patauá and Reflorestadora Holanda, “exist only ‘in the system’ and that – in his memory – they hadn’t been active since 2004.”

The newspaper also reminded Francisco Jonivaldo Mota Campos of “a public civil procedure by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the deforestation of 23.6 hectares of Amazon Forest without permission”. The partner of the Dutch Eco Brasil BV dismissed that issue as a mistake. He never owned these lands”.

Joni also presents himself as an influential figure in mining in the Amazon, as coordinator of the “Garimpo é Legal Movement” in the state of Amazonas. The movement was founded by miner Rodrigo Cataratas from the neighboring state of Roraima, another candidate federal deputy for the PL. In the southeast of Amazonas, in Apuí, near the border with Mato Grosso, Joni is a partner at Aliança Mineração, in collaboration with Agostinho Borges da Silva.

At the National Mining Agency (ANM), Francisco Jonivaldo Mota Campos’ partner has an active application for research into gold, copper and manganese ore pending. It concerns an area of more than nine thousand hectares in Nova Aripuanã, a neighboring municipality of Apuí, where Aliança Mineração is headquartered. Agostinho Borges can be found on the internet operating mining companies in Roraima and on the banks of the Juma River, in the region of Apuí and Novo Aripuanã (Amazonas).

The conflict map of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) shows how the region is characterized by a strong flow of prospectors who are mainly looking for alluvial gold deposits discovered in the place in 2006. Apuí is one of the gateways to illegal mining and timber activities in the Amazon and – as this observatory observed this month during a visit to the region – it is one of the municipalities where fires are concentrated in the Amazon.

Tonsk Fialho studies law at the UFRJ and researches trade unions and social movements. |

|| Alceu Luís Castilho is editor-in-chief of De Olho nos Ruralistas ||

Main image (Reproduction/YouTube): Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the PL, has special interests in legalizing mining

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Dutch Swiss guy offers $47 million Brazilian rainforest as collateral for Spanish solar panel project.

Dutch Swiss guy offers $47 million Brazilian rainforest as collateral for Spanish solar panel project.

Sometimes in your life you come across something that makes you rub your eyes. In my case, that happened in 2019. I met a Dutch gentleman with a Swiss-Brazilian past. It was in Rotterdam, on the Nieuwe Maas… It was a business proposal. Participation in a “global start up”, and it served a good cause. There was an ambitious plan. In a few years this should lead to worldwide expansion and listing on one or more international stock exchanges. The IPO would soon involve hundreds of millions of dollars.

During our conversation, my interlocutor made some startling statements. One of these concerned the rainforest in Brazil. He said he owned 435,000 hectares of tropical rainforest and three ethanol factories down there.

IN THE MIDDLE OF PROTECTED AREA IN AMAZONAS STATE

The southern part of Brazil's largest state - Amazonas is one of the most deforested regions in the entire Amazon. In the vicinity of the town of Apui (22,000 inhabitants), with an area of 5.5 million hectares 30% larger than the whole of the Netherlands, lays the "Fazenda Boa Fé". Not a farm, as you might think, but a tropical rainforest. It covers a large part of the forest between two rivers: the Guariba and the Aripuana, 435,000 hectares in total. It includes the “Sustainable Development Reserve” on the banks of the Aripuana river, destined for sustainable development, focusing mainly on opportunities for the original inhabitants of the area.

regenwoud in het amazonegebiedThe Fazenda Boa Fé is part of the "Mosaic of Apui", a protected area of 2.5 million hectares just north to the state of "Mato Grosso", and is regulated in a management plan that took shape under President Lula in the first decade of this century. The establishment of this zone was mainly aimed at stopping the advancing cattle- farming from Mato Grosso.

Despite this, 150,000 hectares of Apui Municipality's rainforest has been lost to – largely – illegal logging and arson in the last 10 years. Before that, the area had suffered a number of serious incidents such as the violent expulsion of the uncontacted Kawahiva tribe from their natural habitat, the destruction of copaiba trees around the Aripuana, depriving the inhabitants from their main source of income (copaïba resin, and the oil extracted from it), the construction of illegal roads by loggers, and the placing of signs denying residents access to their natural habitat.

LARGE-SCALE ILLEGAL LAND TRADE IN THE APUÍ MOSAIC

Originally, 40% of the entire mosaic was claimed by a cooperative of 1,036 members. They operated from the town of Colniza in Mato Grosso, just south of the Mosaic. Colniza is the most violent city in all of Brazil with 50 murders per year on just 25,000 inhabitants, and almost all of those murders are related to "land issues". The cooperative was involved in almost all abuses in the Mosaic in those years.

In addition, the cooperative was guilty of illegally selling lots in the protected area. Members paid dues, that were used to cover fees for lawyers who “legalized” land in the Mosaic on demand. And that is not possible… Although "squatting"" unoccupied land in Brazil is allowed, and you can also officially register it (in the so-called CAR registration), the land does not become property in this way. Moreover you may not utilize the land - in any manner - without licenses, granted by authorized government organizations.

HOW THE FAZENDA BOA FÉ LANDED IN DUTCH- SWISS HANDS

When the management plan for the region was drawn up, the land was redistributed. The Fazenda – which was part of the former grounds of the cooperative – came into the hands of a small company “Boa Fé Participacoes Ltda”, (Boa Fé) in a suburb of Sao Paolo, 4,000 kilometers from the location of the Fazenda. That happened on the basis of an old property document from 1912.

Ownership of the lands, however, was not clear from the document. It is quite common in Brazil that lands are allocated on the basis of such a kind of old - often manipulated - document. The Brazilians have a word for it: “GRILAGEM”, and see it as a form of land grabbing.

At that time, that small company (Boa Fé) is almost 50% in the hands of the Liechtenstein company “Natural Resources Development” (NRD), which is under Dutch management. The remaining 50% is indirectly controlled by a Brazilian lawyer who was previously associated with the cooperative and who represented it in the negotiations with the Municipality of Apuí. The same lawyer was indicted in 2007 for building an illegal road in the Mosaic and was involved in several incidents involving logging activities in the Barreirinha municipality in the northeast of the state.

Later on, NRD would also get hold of almost the entire remaining half. The “property” is valued at tens of millions of dollars, and transferred to a Caribbean tax haven.

A WEIRD DESTINATION FOR THE FAZENDA IN SOUTHERN EUROPE

In August 2010, the same land was offered by another Dutchman through a Swiss company as collateral for a solar panel project in Cadiz (Spain). Thanks to an ingenious construction, through a Hungarian listed fund, that project is also controlled by the fund in the Caribean, with a few Dutch businessmen in charge.

The affair prompted me to write my book “The Tocantins Forest". If you want to know how this goes on, and what's going on today in the Fazenda Boa Fé and the rainforests of Liberia, you can read it there. You can read the press release announcing the transaction here... - ENDS -

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LANDGRABBING DUTCHIES OF THE 3D MILLENNIUM

LANDGRABBING DUTCHIES OF THE 3d MILLENNIUM

illegal logs

From 1998 to the present, the Dutch have owned extensive land holdings in Amazonas. Brazil’s largest state is home to much of the region’s tropical rainforest. The claimed land ownership went with land grabs (Portuguese: “Grilagem”), crimes against humanity and illegal logging. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of virgin wilderness fell prey to the ruthless greed of adventurers and creative financiers from the lowlands.

Sao Paulo, 28th of Januari 2001.  A parliamentary commission charged with investigating the occupation of public land in Amazonas state reports on its findings. One chapter is devoted to the role of foreigners in the region.

The Committee concludes that by far the most important foreign landowner in the state is the Dutchman Gerardus Laurentius Joseph Bartels, who – together with Ms Monica Janette Bartels – acquired various plots of land in the region. In total, this concerns a staggering 367,000 hectares. The land is partly registered in the region around the city of “Barreirinha” on the banks of the Andirá River, and is part of Bartels’ company “Eco Brasil Holanda-Andirá Ltda“. The remainder is located near the town of Itacoatiara, and is owned by “Reflorestadora Ltda“, a subsidiary of Eco Brasil.

The committee points out that under Brazilian law Bartels, as a foreigner, may not own more than 2,750 hectares. His land ownership is largely illegal…

At that point in time, Bartels is honorary consul for the Netherlands in Belèm, the capital of the adjacent state of “Para”. In previous years he has taken over the land for pennies on the dollar from indigenous residents and poor farmers in the area.

By then – in 2001 – things had turned bad in the region around Barreirinha for several years. In March 1999, the governor of the state of Amazonas authorized the president of IPAAM to take action against Dutch people who were logging illegally at a 50-minute boat ride from the city of Barreirinha. IPAAM is the state agency that deals with logging licenses and enforcement thereof. The governor – Amazonino Mendez – did so after he received alarming signals from Thiago de Mello, an internationally renowned poet, who lives in Barreirinha; an ex-exile from the military dictatorship that reigned Brazil between 1964 and 1985.

IPAAM chief Vicente Nogueira visited the city, imposed an embargo on all logging activities in the region, and dispatched military police to the scene. They met four Dutchmen, who introduced themselves to him as owners of “Eco Brasil Holanda-Andirá”. On presentation of Nogueira’s enforcement request, the Dutch said they would continue their activities. When they then announced their intent to evict 2,000 indigenous families working in the area from their land, the governor announced that he would deploy military police to enforce the embargo. In the worst case, he would proceed to imprison the Dutch.

The latter did not happen. What did happen however, is that the military police, in a joint action with the

Indigenous “Sateré Mawé” population swept the area in a 10-day operation. 5 logging locations were closed. Environmental inspectors found 3,000 tree trunks submerged in tributaries of the Andira River. An apparent attempt to escape the watchful eye of the environmental inspectors.

250 loggers lost their jobs. They directed their anger at the poet Thiago de Mello; threatened to ambush and kill him. De Mello was placed under protection.

These incidents are the prelude to 20 years of land occupation and illegal deforestation by Dutch residents and Brazilian associates. You can read more about it in The Tocantins Forest.

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LANGRABBING DUTCHIES IN THE 3D MILLENNIUM

LANGRABBING DUTCHIES IN THE 3D MILLENNIUM

illegal logs

From 1998  to the present, the Dutch manage sizable land holdings in Amazonas Brazil's largest province is home to much of the region's tropical rainforest. The claimed land ownership was accompanied by land grabs (Portuguese: “Grilagem"), crimes against humanity and illegal logging. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of virgin wilderness fell prey to the ruthless greed of adventurers and creative financiers from the lowlands.

Sao Paulo, 28th Januari 2001, A parliamentary commission charged with investigating the occupation of public land in the Amazonas state reports on its findings. One chapter is devoted to the role of foreigners in the region.

The Committee concludes that by far the most important foreign landowner in the state is the Dutchman Gerardus Laurentius Joseph Bartels, who together with Ms Monica Janette Bartels acquired various plots of land in the region. In total, this concerns a staggering 367,000 hectares. The land is partly registered in the region around the city of “Barreirinha” on the Andirá river, and is part of Bartels' company Eco Brasil Holanda-Andirá Ltda. Another part is located near the city of Itacoatiara, and is owned by Reflorestadora Ltda, a subsidiary of Eco Brasil.

The committee points out that, under the circumstances, Bartels as a foreigner may not own more than 2,750 hectares on the basis of Brazilian law. His land ownership is illegal…

Bartels is - at that point in time - consul honoraire for the Netherlands in Belèm, the capital of the adjacent state “Para”. In previous years he has taken over the land for pennies on the dollar from indigenous residents and farmers in the area. 

Then – in 2001 – things had been going on in the region around Barreirinha for several years. In March 1999, the governor of the state of Amazonas authorizes the president of IPAAM to take action against Dutch people who were reported to be logging illegally at a 50-minute boat ride from the city of Barreirinha. IPAAM is the state agency that deals with (among other things) licensing and enforcement of logging licenses. The governor – Amazonino Mendez – is doing so after he received alarming signals from Thiago de Mello, an internationally renowned poet, who lives in Barreirinha. He is an ex-exile from the military dictatorship that engulfed Brazil between 1964 and 1985.

IPAAM chief Vicente Nogueira visits the city, imposes an embargo on all logging activities in the region, and dispatches military police to the scene. They meet four Dutchmen, who introduce themselves to him as owners of “Eco Brasil Holanda-Andirá”. On presentation of Nogueira's enforcement request, the Dutch say they will continue their activities. When they then announce that they will be evicting 2,000 indigenous families working in the area from their land, the governor announces that he will deploy military police to enforce the embargo. In the worst case, he will proceed to capture the Dutch.

The latter does not happen. What does happen is that the military police, in a joint action with the Indigenous “Sateré Mawé” population, clean up the area in a 10-day operation. 5 logging locations are closed. Environmental inspectors find 3,000 tree trunks submerged in tributaries of the Andira River. An apparent attempt to escape the watchful eye of the environmental inspectors.

250 loggers lose their jobs. They direct their anger at the poet Thiago de Mello. They threaten to ambush and kill him. De Mello is placed under protection.

These incidents are the prelude to 20 years of land occupation and illegal deforestation by Dutch residents and Brazilian associates. You can read more about it in The Tocantins Forest.