The Federal Police intercepted conversations of a businessman who trades carbon credits discussing alleged payments of bribes to federal and state public officials. According to the investigation, the payments were made to facilitate land grabbing and the falsification of data in registries.
Preventively detained since early June, Ricardo Stoppe Junior is identified by the PF as the leader of an alleged scheme involving fraud in the sale of R$180 million in carbon credits tied to unlawfully occupied federal lands in the Amazon. The PF highlights that he was “one of the protagonists” at COP 28 in Dubai in December 2023.
Through fraudulent certificates and the insertion of false data in registry offices and public agencies, the group led by Stoppe Junior illegally seized lands in the Amazon totaling 537 thousand hectares, equivalent to the area of the Federal District. With these lands, the group profited from the sale of carbon credits, payments made by private companies for emissions that are not released.
Investigators identified alleged illicit payments to at least ten public servants from Incra, the Amazonas Institute of Environmental Protection (Ipaam), and the State Secretariat of Cities and Territories of the Amazonas state. This information is detailed in a PF report obtained by O GLOBO.
In a statement, Incra reported assisting with the investigations. “The results of the investigations will support appropriate administrative actions within the agency,” the statement added. The Amazonas state government stated that it “does not condone any type of misconduct or illicit acts committed” and that the individuals mentioned are no longer part of the state administration. “The Amazonas state government reaffirms its commitment to transparency and will provide all necessary cooperation to the judiciary,” it added. Stoppe’s defense declined to comment. His business group published a statement asserting that the carbon credits “have always been certified by the market for maintaining expected quality and integrity.”
One of those involved is a former superintendent of Incra in Amazonas who held the position until February 2023. According to the PF, he allegedly obtained the position through Stoppe’s influence and worked to “correct” the registration of a land parcel of interest to the investigated group. During the same period, police intercepted a dialogue in which the businessman discussed an “arrangement” with the “superintendent.”
“So the superintendent will review it, that’s the arrangement, and then return it authorizing the action to proceed. (…) And then send it to the superintendent for him to send the letter,” he said in a conversation dated October 2022.
In the report, investigators point out that the “arrangement” referred to “payment of bribes.” They highlighted a cash transaction of R$139 thousand made during a “temporal period of various frauds related to land grabbing by the criminal organization,” according to the text.
Another Incra official, responsible for certification, is accused of issuing fraudulent land documents to the business group and “acting within Incra as a key figure for the criminal organization,” according to the PF.
“I need more money because I already promised Carlão, Carlão will move quickly,” Stoppe said in another audio captured in May 2022.
According to the PF, “Carlão” was an Incra official who received money through his son’s shell company, which handled R$5.5 million in three years in operations considered “atypical by Coaf.” Agents visited the address of the supposed company in Manaus and found “no connection to electricity or water,” confirming it was a shell company.
From the Amazonas government ranks, two former secretaries and three other former employees of the State Secretariat of Cities and Territories (Sect) are under investigation. According to the PF, they set up a “business counter” within the agency.
One of the former secretaries allegedly received R$200 thousand to release documents to the group.
“I had already given those hundred that you sent, (…) he wants another hundred thousand to deliver the document. He said the secretary is pissed, doesn’t want to give anymore,” said Stoppe’s partner in a conversation captured in August 2022.
In another recording from March of that year, the businessman discusses resolving a “mess” by giving money “up there in Manaus.”
‘Money has already gone everywhere’
In the inquiry, the PF estimated the environmental damage caused by the targets at a total of R$606 million. According to investigators, in addition to land grabbing, the group used properties for “wood laundering” – issuing documents for logs removed from prohibited areas, such as indigenous reserves, to sell them on the legal market.
“Although the criminal organization promotes carbon credit projects, its actions reveal a completely different reality. The extensive exploitation of wood and cattle, the sale of fictitious wood credits, the existence of ‘phantom’ cattle to meet areas with environmental restrictions, the illegal expansion of territories through land grabbing of public lands, the corruption of public servants, co-opting of registries, (…) in preservation areas highlight a systematic practice of socio-environmental degradation, hidden under the veil of supposedly sustainable initiatives,” concluded the PF.
In the decision authorizing his arrest, the Federal Court of Amazonas highlighted a conversation where Stoppe said he had already sent money to Incra, Ipaam, and “everywhere.”
“Besides what I’m already giving with everything to bear this, something that has no document. (…) Money has already gone into agencies, has already gone into Incra, has already gone into Ipaam, has already gone everywhere and nothing (…) We have to put an end to this because I’m documenting something that, apparently, doesn’t exist, right?” he said in a dialogue from July 2022.
