FTSE firm BHP rejects murder case over Brazil dam collapse

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) , the co-owner of the Samarco mine in Brazil, has rejected homicide and environmental charges in connection with a fatal dam collapse at the site last year.

Prosecutors announced that 22 people were to face the courts - with 21 of them facing a qualified homicide case over the Samarco iron ore mine incident.

There were 19 bodies recovered after the waste-water dam gave way near Mariana in the south-east of the country in November.

Whole communities were buried under millions of tonnes of thick red mud in what is now considered Brazil's worst environmental disaster.

The sludge also fouled a major river for hundreds of miles, killing fish and rendering water supplies undrinkable.

While announcing the charges, prosecutor Jose Adericido Leite Sampaio claimed executives at Samarco - a partnership between the world's largest miner BHP and Vale - had clear awareness the dam could fail but ignored the risks and prioritised profit.

Another, Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, said of those who lost their lives: "These people were murdered."

The authorities now have to place the case before a judge, who will decide if it can proceed.

Samarco was also charged with criminal environmental offences in addition to the £5bn clean-up bill submitted by the authorities.

The majority of the individuals charged were Brazilian nationals. They included Samarco's former chief executive Ricardo Viscovi.

BHP, which announced a record annual loss for the company in August, said it has not been formally advised of the proceedings and that it rejected outright the charges against the company and those individuals who have been charged.

Vale added there was no knowledge that the dam could fail before the disaster occurred.

BHP's chairman Jac Nasser confirmed on Thursday he was to step down next year after delaying his departure to take charge of the dam collapse.