name changed to: Fazenda Floresta Jatoba S/A
name further changed to: Floryl Florestadora Ypa S/A
Company which acquired and owns huge Brazil forest plantation. Now believed to be a subsidiary of Jersey registered companies Bahia Farming and Lyle Enterprise.
Sells tropical hard wood to Argentina, Chile and Portugal, Denmark, Malaysia and Japan.
See investigative article in Dagens Nyheter
The deal to acquire the land from Shell was signed on August 8, 1994 - signatories included Kirsten Fuglsbjerg and Anne Hansen
The purchase of Shell's Floryl plantation six years ago was finalised after long negotiations, and according to the contract the main product was to be wood cellulose. The Tvind spokesman Michael Norling, now leader of the American-Canadian sister organisation Planet Aid, had inspected the forest several times and when the sales contract was written it was mainly in the name of Floresta Atlantica (Brazil) Ltd. The owner was Tropical Farming, based in the tax haven Cayman Islands. Florestica Atlantica then became Fazenda Floresta Jatobà, which has now become Floryl Florestadora YPA S/A. That's the same name it had when owned by Shell. But today's owners are Tvind and UFF's shadow company in the British tax haven of Jersey, Bahia Farming Ltd and Lyle Enterprise. Executives are Thomas Vaeth and Elly Jensen. Vaeth has also been involved in land deals in Belize and Ecuador via Cayman Island-based Tvind companies.
"Are you with me? Well, you're not supposed to be," says Marcelo da Silva, who takes care of taxation issues in Bahia. "The companies change names to avoid taxation and investigation in Brazil."
Marcelo looks at the activities at Floryl as money laundering. The company makes millions by supplying support poles for vineyards in Argentina, Chile and Portugal. Timber is also sold to Denmark, Malaysia and Japan, and Brazilian steel-companies get supplies of charcoal.
"The profits are in millions, but where the money goes, we do not know," he says.