From the forest to the consumer - GVces - Fundação Getulio Vargas

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mon fraud operations and recommended that Pará’s Environment Secretariat
(SEMA) improve 43 aspects of the controlling system. “The one year period to
achieve solutions is already over,” says Valente, adding that he intends to go to
court to force the issue. If errors and deficiencies are not addressed, the electronic
system developed to be a solution against fraud might end up facilitating
it. Evidence of fraud could be easily detected, but for several reasons, chiefly
among them the state’s lack of structure, there is no effective control. Sometimes,
it is just a matter of minutes between the time someone inputs credits
for the supplier and the buyer reports receiving the cargo. “The speed indicates
that no timber was transported from the authorized areas,” explains Valante,
reinforcing that the sole interest is for the fraudulent document papers, which
are available immediately on the Internet. It appears that there is no limit to
fraud: in one case, a cargo of many logs was “transported” by a vehicle whose
plates, according to the controlling system, belonged to a motorcycle.
According to news that circulated in 2008, timber companies paid hackers
to attack the controlling system and forge online credits, raising the authorized
volume of timber to 1.7 million of cubic meters, the equivalent to 680 Olympic-
-sized swimming pools.
Today, fraudsters specialize in making timber credits disappear quickly
between suppliers and sawmills, which makes monitoring more difficult. “The
electronic controlling system needs filters and technical improvements to avoid
this kind of problem, but that in turn depends on political will,” says Valente. “It
is very hard to prove that there is criminal activity among high ranking government
officials, but there is at least omission and neglect”.
Bribes galore disrupt
lawful operations
We visited the Federal Police headquarters in Belém one week after eight
SEMA officials were arrested for issuing fraudulent licenses to timber companies.
“The inspectors received 5-15 thousand reais to license shadow companies,” says