Brazil police gather evidence linked to arrest of J&F execs

In a raid conducted today (Sep 11), Federal Police agents served five search and seizure warrants—four in São Paulo and one in Rio de Janeiro—at the property of J&F executives Joesley Batista and Ricardo Saud, and former Federal Prosecutor Marcelo Miller.

The new crackdown was dubbed Operation Bocca, after the sculpture named “Bocca della Verità,” one of Rome's tourist attraction. “Since the Middle Ages, it has been believed that if you tell a lie with your hand resting on the mouth of the statue, it would close, thus biting the hand of the liar,” a note issued by the police reads.

Arrests

Batista and Saud had been arrested since yesterday (10) at the Federal Police headquarters in São Paulo, from which they were transferred to Brasília late this morning. They turned themselves in on Sunday, before Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin's temporary arrest warrant could be brought into effect. Fachin granted the request filed by Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot.

The arrests were conducted after Janot ascertained that information was deliberately omitted by Batista and Saud in the four-hour-long audio recordings handed in by Batista's counsel, along with documents required under the plea bargain deal already ratified by Fachin.

In the recorded conversations, Batista and Saud discuss strategies to rid themselves of the allegations against them, along with the JPS group, controlled by the J&F conglomerate.

The Prosecutor-General's Office also requested the temporary arrest of former prosecutor Marcelo Miller, once a member of Janot's team. He is mentioned in the recordings as someone that could influence the prosecutor-general's decisions in favor of JBS and its executives. Fachin refused to issue an arrest warrant targeting Miller.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira