Ibama reopened the process that fined former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) R$10,000 for carrying out illegal fishing in an environmental conservation area on the coast of Rio de Janeiro in 2012. The penalty had been annulled by the agency in early 2019 , following an opinion from the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) issued days before Bolsonaro took office as President. At the time, the AGU considered that he did not have a broad right to defense during the process and that the deadline for applying the punishment had already passed. The former president classified, this Tuesday, the 19th, the revalidation of the fine as “persecution”.
In 2019, Ibama decided to make the process null and void, after considering the opinion of the AGU, which assessed that the statute of limitations for the fine would be five years, ending in 2017. However, in a new opinion, the AGU understood the period is 12 years.
Ibama’s new decision was signed, on Sunday, the 17th, by Halisson Peixoto Barreto, general coordinator of the National Center for the Environmental Sanctioning Process (Cenpsa). According to him, the environmental body still had time to correct “the defects highlighted” by the AGU, since the statute of limitations for the environmental crime committed by Bolsonaro therefore ends in 2024.
“Ibama reopened the process relating to the investigation of the infraction committed by the defendant, considering that the statute of limitations, when the decision was made at the time, does not correspond with the applicable legal deadline. The order is based on an opinion from the Attorney General’s Office of the Union (AGU), which supports the thesis that the deadline for applying the fine is not five, but 12 years”, said Ibama, in a note.
O EstadãoHe sought out the former president’s office to ask about paying the fine imposed by Ibama, but received no response.
Understand the environmental crime committed by Bolsonaro
On January 25, 2012, when he was a federal deputy for the PP, Bolsonaro was caught in a boat fishing at the Tamoios Ecological Station, a conservation area protected by the federal government on the coast of the Rio de Janeiro municipalities of Angra dos Reis and Paraty. To defend himself, he stated that he had a document from the Ministry of Fisheries that authorized the activity in that region.
This Tuesday, Bolsonaro criticized the new decision and stated that he was at Santos Dumont Airport, in Rio de Janeiro, and not at Tamoios Station, when he was fined on March 6, 2012.
However, the date of the action is not the date on which he was caught committing the infraction. According to Ibama, the delay in filing the fine occurred because the former Chief Executive refused to present his personal documents.
When he was caught practicing illegal fishing at the conservation station, Bolsonaro was photographed by Ibama staff on top of the boat and carrying a fishing rod.
Inspector who fined Bolsonaro was exonerated
The Ibama employee who fined Bolsonaro is José Olímpio Augusto Morelli who, on March 28, 2019, when Bolsonaro’s term as President completed its third month, was dismissed from a position in the agency’s Environmental Protection Directorate (Dipro). The decision was taken by Major Olivaldi Alves Borges Azevedo, who was chosen by the then president to take over as head of the board.
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