Tory donor invested in firm linked to Amazon deforestation

Odey Asset Management understood to have sizeable stake in Brazilian firm SLC Agricola

Crispin Odey, one of the biggest donors to Boris Johnson's Conservative party, has invested in a Brazilian company linked to deforestation in the Amazon, the Guardian can reveal.

SLC Agricola has been accused of clearing land for soy cultivation, mostly from the Cerrado ecosystem in Brazil, which is rich in wildlife and plant species and is an important carbon sink. It has requested licences to clear thousands of hectares of Cerrado land, on top of at least 30,000 hectares that it cleared between 2011 and 2017, which resulted in the Norwegian government pension fund divesting from the group.