Proceedings are related to infractions such as deforestation and fiscal enforcement of fines applied by Ibama and ICMBio.| Photo: Antonio Lacerda/EFE

The Attorney General’s Office (AGU) went to court this Monday (5) with 765 lawsuits to collect R$ 628 million in environmental violations. According to the government agency, there are 28 public civil actions to recover 22,000 hectares of degraded area equivalent to R$ 483 million in compensation for environmental damage, and 737 tax enforcement actions to collect R$ 145 million in fines applied by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).

In addition to the actions, the AGU also confirmed charges in other 44 existing processes that are at a standstill to reinforce requests for blocking assets and the adoption of precautionary measures for the deforestation of 7,700 hectares.

Among the actions of the AGU are the collection of a fine of R$ 79 million applied by ICMBio to the mining company Samarco for the rupture of the Fundão dam, in Mariana (MG), in 2015.