A complaint has been lodged with the Central Bank of Ireland against an investment firm based here in Ireland which is allegedly linked to JBS N.V, parent company of the world’s largest beef processor, JBS, over alleged money laundering in JBS’ beef supply chain.
The Transnational Legal Coalition (TLC), comprised of international lawyers, campaigners, investigators and civil society groups, lodged 13 other complaints in the UK, Netherlands and Germany. Twelve of its financiers, asset holders, lawyers and accountants associated with the company have also been cited in the complaints.
The Irish firm alleged to be involved is BlackRock Asset Management Ireland Limited.
The coalition said that cattle ranching is the biggest driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, and claims that there is an extensive body of evidence linking JBS to decades of that destruction.
“Most of this deforestation is not only illegal, but as it overlaps with huge swathes of special legally protected areas, is criminal under Brazilian environmental law.
“JBS generates enormous profits through the purchase of cattle raised on land likely to be criminally deforested. The cattle move from farms in JBS’s direct and indirect supply chains to its slaughterhouses for processing before entering its complex global meat supply chains,” it said.
EU law
The TLC contends that under EU law-derived anti-money laundering legislation, cattle raised on lands illegally deforested are, in their view, criminal property.
“The complaints allege that JBS’s proceeds from the sale of such cattle flow across the world in plain sight and are being used to pay EU-based financiers and enablers, despite anti-money laundering legal frameworks applying in all four European jurisdictions where the complaints have been lodged.”
The TLC, whose members include Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Mighty Earth, FIND and King’s College London, commissioned a report from AidEnvironment on deforestation and farms linked to JBS. It alleges that between 1988 and 2026, JBS can be linked to over 6.5m hectares of deforested land in the Brazilian Amazon.
Gearóid Ó Cuinn, director at GLAN, said: “Forest destruction in the Amazon raises serious questions for banks here in Europe.
“Our evidence of alleged criminal deforestation in JBS’s supply chain demands scrutiny of its financiers under anti-money-laundering laws. Customers should expect their banks and investors to confront that evidence. The TLC connects investigators, lawyers and campaigners across borders to challenge the financial relationships behind the destruction. Authorities must now investigate and enforce the law,” he said.
Irish link
In the complaint sent to the Central Bank of Ireland, seen by the Irish Farmers Journal, Mighty Earth and GLAN requested that the bank open an investigation into BlackRock Asset Management Ireland Limited (BAMIL).
This is in relation to the alleged failure by it to comply with its enhanced due diligence obligations under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 and its obligation to report suspected money laundering under that act.
The grouping alleges that this is “arising from its management of funds holding shares in, and bonds issued or co-issued by, JBS N.V., the Dutch parent company of the multinational meat-producing conglomerate, JBS”.
“Our complaint relates to investments by 19 funds, of which BAMIL is the management company, in JBS N.V. and the acquisition by the latter of revenue from the production of cattle” potentially raised on unlawfully deforested land, the complaint states.
JBS response
JBS had not responded to queries from the Irish Farmers Journal at the time of publishing. However, in a statement to The Associated Press the company said that it had not received the data or methodology behind the allegations and that this prevented the company from independently evaluating the claims or responding to them.
“Since 2010, JBS has monitored its cattle suppliers in the Amazon. Using satellite imagery and geo-referencing, it assesses each transaction against industry-wide criteria set out in a protocol established by Brazil’s federal prosecution office,” the company said.
“The system analyses more than 600,000 square kilometers of Brazilian territory every day and automatically blocks farms with illegal deforestation, embargoed areas, overlap with indigenous lands, quilombola territories or conservation units, or slave-like labour,” JBS added.
The Irish Farmers Journal contacted the Central Bank of Ireland asking to confirm if it had received the complaint referred to.
In response, a spokesperson said: “The Central Bank does not have any comment to make.”
BlackRock Asset Management Ireland Limited declined to comment on the matter when contacted by the Irish Farmers Journal.
