A Brazilian court has resumed this week a criminal case against Samarco, Vale, BHP Billiton, VogBR, as well as 22 other people as a result of the Mariana disaster, which killed 19 people in November 2015 and halted output at local pellet producer Samarco.
The case provisionally suspended in July this year, after Samarco alleged that the wiretaps used by federal prosecutors were not obtained during the specific time period approved by a Brazilian court. Samarco was requested by the court to provide phone data and emails between October 10, 2015 and November 30, 2015, but it also sent data for the years betwen 2011 and 2014. By using the nonrequested data in the case, the judge at the time said prosecutors “disrespected the company’s privacy,” and suspended the case.
On Monday, a Brazilian court dismissed a challenge from two defendants claiming illegal evidence collection, and as such resumed the criminal proceedings, including consideration of murder charges.