EN 
PT_BR 
The seed market in Mato Grosso handles a considerable volume of purchase and sale contracts in the periods leading up to the grain harvests, with various types of agreements between the parties. One of these transactions drew attention after becoming a police case and resulting in the indictment of two people for fraud in the city of Água Boa (MT), after they acquired batches of seeds from a company in the southern region of Mato Grosso and failed to pay what was established in contracts that stipulated the delivery of 95,433 sacks of soybeans, a loss that exceeds 9 million reais.
In a move rarely used in this type of situation, the injured company, in addition to the civil court proceedings seeking compensation, also filed a criminal complaint against the rural businessman Rodrigo Piccinini in May of this year at the Regional Police Station of Água Boa. According to the police investigation conducted by Delegate Bruno Gomes Borges, the company's lawyers filed a criminal complaint alleging breach of contract and fraud. “According to the investigation, the victim supplied seeds to the suspect through purchase and sale contracts linked to Rural Product Certificates (CPRs), guaranteed by fiduciary alienation and first-degree pledge, in a typical barter operation. In return, the suspect was supposed to deliver part of the soybean harvest produced in the 2024/2025 season to warehouses previously designated contractually (Cargill). However, the investigations, duly attached to the case file, demonstrated that although the harvest was effectively collected, the suspect did not fulfill the obligation to deliver to the agreed locations, diverting a considerable part of the production to third parties and various warehouses, without the creditor's consent. Part of the grains was delivered in the name of Diego Sichocki, also identified in the case file,” the police document states.
GRAIN DIVERSION – The testimony of a witness designated by the seed company reported that, faced with another breach of contract in the current harvest, they decided to hire companies specializing in monitoring cultivated areas. The targets of the tracking were located in the municipalities of Água Boa and Ribeirão Cascalheira (MT), as described in the police investigation. “It was found that Rodrigo Piccinini, in addition to not fulfilling the contractual obligations and those stipulated in the CPRs (Rural Product Certificates), allocated the grains that should have been delivered exclusively to the victim to warehouses other than those previously agreed upon and in the name of a third party, identified as Diego Sichocki. The witness added that, after the granting of a preliminary injunction for seizure, he accompanied the court officers on visits to eight warehouses in the aforementioned regions, where, by comparing the license plates of the vehicles listed in the monitoring reports, it was possible to confirm that the deposited grains came from areas linked to the victim's guarantee.”
Investigations based on technical reports and audit reports from the seed company provide production figures for the areas where the seed lots sold to Rodrigo Piccinini were planted, in the municipalities of Água Boa and Ribeirão Cascalheira, totaling approximately 5,726,000 kg of soybeans. This refutes Rodrigo Piccinini's claim in his testimony that there was a considerable loss in production due to flooding in the planted area.
According to the investigation, in an attempt to hinder the tracking of the production by those under investigation, Rodrigo allegedly used the technique of scattering the grain deliveries to warehouses other than those stipulated in the CPRs (Rural Product Certificates) and under the name of Diego Sichocki, who was fully aware of the criminal practice.
At the end of the investigation, and with the robust evidence and detailed information gathered in testimonies, Detective Bruno Gomes Borges decided to indict Rodrigo Piccinini for the crime of aggravated fraud, due to abuse of trust and defrauding of a pledge, under the terms of article 171, §2, items I and III, of the Penal Code. Diego Sichocki was also indicted for the same crime, as a co-author. Now the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Mato Grosso will decide whether or not to accept the conclusions reached by the police authority in the investigation.
