J&F leniency deal suspended after court ruling

Federal court authorities decided to change their ruling to approve the leniency deal with J&F for criminal purposes. The move, made today (Sep 11), was based on the possible revocation of the plea bargain deal with executive Joesley Batista, one of the owners of the group, which may be revised by the Prosecutor-General's Office.

Under the leniency deal forged with J&F, which controls JBS, the company must pay $3.3 billion as fine and minimal refund for the corruption scheme involving kickbacks pocketed by public officials. The deal was signed early in June by the Prosecutor's Office of the Federal District and mandates the payment of $2.6 billion to public agencies targeted by the criminals. The remainder is to be earmarked for social projects.

The amount is to be paid over the course of 25 years and will be corrected according to the official inflation. The final value is estimated by prosecutors to total over $6.5 billion.

The deal was unanimously confirmed last month by a special anti-corruption chamber of the Federal Prosecution Service. The information disclosed by J&F was deemed “enlightening” as it explains how the corruption scheme operated.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira