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On January 21, the former managing director of the Harvard-owned timber company Scolopax SRL was detained on charges of money laundering and corruption in Romania. According to Romanian prosecutors, Dragoș Lipan Secu and his wife accepted bribes including a Crysler Sebring, a vacation to the Canary Islands, and $1.3 million in exchange for purchasing forest land at an inflated price.Although Scolopax SRL is entirely owned by Harvard Management Company, this corruption scheme, which took place between 2007 and 2009, was discovered by local whistleblowers.

The Romanian Ministry of Justice has accused Dragos Lipan Secu of accepting bribes and laundering money while he was employed as a contractor for Scolopax, a Harvard-owned timber company in Romania.According to a statement issued by the Romanian Anti-Corruption Department on Jan. 21, Secu allegedly conspired with timber sellers to purchase timberland on behalf of Scolopax for artificially high prices.

Local residents join with Harvard students to ask university to be a better neighborTimber plantations owned by Harvard University may be harming northern Argentina’s Iberá Wetlands and the communities in the wetlands region, according to a report recently published by the Responsible Investment at Harvard Coalition and the Oakland Institute. Emilio Spataro, the president of the NGO Guardians of the Iberá, first alerted the Responsible Investment Coalition to the environmental threat posed by the plantations. The pine trees “have transformed the region into a green desert,” Spataro says.

The report that we and The Oakland Institute released last week is making waves across Argentina. Several news outlets have published stories, including the one below in the Argentine publication, Clarín. (Please follow the link for the original article in Spanish.) At the time of this blog post, the article already has 115 comments, 1400 Facebook likes and 140 Tweets!

They are managed through two public limited companies with offices in Buenos Aires -Las Misiones SA and Evasa SA- and are dedicated to the industrial plantation of pines and eucalyptus.

Los Esteros del Iberá, en Corrientes volvieron a ser noticia esta semana: un informe sobre plantaciones que la Universidad de Harvard tiene en el paradisíaco lugar a través de un fondo de inversión, acusa a la casa de altos estudios de no ser los suficientemente sustentables.“Las conclusiones del informe contradicen declaraciones recientes de la presidenta de Harvard, Drew Faust.

Tiene 87 mil hectáreas en Corrientes, donde produce madera. Según los estudiantes, provoca daño ambiental.La Universidad de Harvard posee en la Argentina 87.884 hectáreas. Están ubicadas en el corazón de una de las reservas de agua dulce más grandes del planeta: los Esteros del Iberá, en Corrientes. Son gestionadas a través de dos sociedades anónimas con oficinas en Buenos Aires –Las Misiones S.A. y Evasa S.A.– y se dedican a la plantación industrial de pinos y eucaliptus.

Los Esteros del Iberá, en Corrientes volvieron a ser noticia esta semana: un informe sobre plantaciones que la Universidad de Harvard tiene en el paradisíaco lugar a través de un fondo de inversión, acusa a la casa de altos estudios de no ser los suficientemente sustentables.“Las conclusiones del informe contradicen declaraciones recientes de la presidenta de Harvard, Drew Faust.

Harvard needs to address allegations in recently released study.Harvard’s endowment may or may not be political, but it can certainly have enormous consequences on people around the globe. According to a report released by Responsible Investment at Harvard, those consequences are particularly acute in Argentina’s Iberá wetlands, where two Harvard-owned timber companies are making significant profits while causing significant hardship for the area.

A study released Tuesday alleges that the management of two Harvard-owned timber plantations in Argentina has led to the deterioration of the Ibera Wetlands, the world’s second largest wetlands, and a decline in the quality of life in surrounding communities.Since the Harvard Management Company, which oversees the University’s $32.7 billion endowment, acquired the two timber companies in 2007, the plantations have expanded in size, encroaching upon previously protected wildlife and threatening local farms, public health, and road quality, the report claims.The principal author of the study, Sa