Representatives of Volkswagen do Brasil have walked out of the negotiating table in a hearing over possible slave labor at a subsidiary’s Amazon farm. According to a statement from the public prosecutor’s office in Brasília, the company has declared that it has no interest in an out-of-court agreement with the competent prosecutor. In Germany, such an agreement roughly corresponds to a pre-trial agreement.
It is about the farm known as “Fazenda Volkswagen” in Santana do Araguaia in the state of Pará. It was founded in the 1970s and supported by the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985). The car company got into the meat business at the time. The farm was approximately 1390 square kilometers in size and employed several hundred workers.
The prosecution’s proposal included compensation for workers who had already been identified as allegedly aggrieved, as well as a program to search for other workers who were also treated in the same way on the farm.
Prosecutor announces further steps
After Volkswagen’s current no, the public prosecutor’s office in Brazil said they regret the company’s attitude, which contradicts the company’s commitment to the country and human rights. She announced that she would take all judicial and extrajudicial measures necessary for effective reparation of the damage allegedly caused by the company.
VW rejects all allegations
A spokesman for the carmaker said: “Volkswagen do Brasil rejects all allegations contained in the minutes of this investigation into Fazenda Vale do Rio Cristalino and does not agree with the one-sided representations of facts by third parties.” The Brazilian public prosecutor only informed the company three years after the investigations began.
Jose de Lima Ramos Pereira (middle), the Attorney General responsible for labor law, and the lawyers of VW in Brazil in June 2022
The investigators summoned VW do Brasil in May 2022. The hearing in June 2022 also discussed possible compensation for the workers on the farm and for Brazilian society. It is about a very serious violation of human rights, which took place for more than ten years with the direct involvement of Volkswagen, according to the statement by the public prosecutor.
Prosecutor Rafael Garcia Rodrigues spoke of inhospitable accommodation on the farm. In addition, the workers could not have left the farm. The workers and Brazilian society itself deserved more respectful treatment and compensation for the damage caused.
se/kle (dpa, ard, efe, lusa)