Vale, Tüv Süd, and 16 people to face trial for Brumadinho disaster

A federal court in the state of Minas Gerais has admitted charges against Brazilian mining giant Vale, German engineering company Tüv Süd, and 16 executives and employees of the two companies for crimes related to the collapse of a tailings dam that destroyed the town of Brumadinho in 2019.

They had become defendants before, in 2020, when the case was pending in the state courts. In 2021, however, the Superior Court of Justice, Brazil’s second-highest court, annulled the decision and determined that the case should be tried in the federal courts since federal crimes were reported. In November of that year, the Feds presented 21 indictment requests for the disaster.

In April last year, however, the Superior Court of Justice admitted an appeal by state prosecutors in Minas Gerais against the federalization of the criminal case, which took the matter to the Supreme Court. The eleven-bench court’s final decision came only in December. Now, four years after the tragedy, the trial begins.

Among those indicted is Vale’s former chairman, Fabio Schvartsman. The 16 people are accused of 270 aggravated homicides (the number of people who died in the disaster), in addition to crimes against fauna, flora, and pollution. Alongside some of its executives, Tüv Süd is being indicted for erroneously certifying the dam’s safety due to fears of losing Vale as a client.

In the complaint, prosecutors warned that new facts and perpetrators might surface during the case.

On January 25, 2019, a tailings dam owned by Vale collapsed outside the southeastern town of Brumadinho, releasing a deluge of toxic sludge that destroyed surrounding villages and killed 270 people, including employees of Vale’s Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine.

The Brumadinho dam collapse is the world’s worst mining tragedy since Mariana, a similar disaster that took place three years earlier in another city of the state of Minas Gerais.

Vale did not comment on the indictment. However, it published a press release last week informing that more than 13,500 people have closed an indemnity agreement for the damage caused in Brumadinho.

Of the BRL 37.7 billion (USD 7.3 billion) pact signed with the government of Minas Gerais in 2021 regarding reparation measures in the region, BRL 23.6 billion (58 percent of the total) have been spent, the company says. 

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