Meat+Poultry - December 2017 - 30

CORPORATE UPDATE

From 2016
through 2017,
the Batista
name became
linked to
multiple
criminal
investigations
stemming
from that
initial
blockbuster
Operation Car
Wash probe.

food products in the
marketplace. Law
enforcement officers
in Brazil served a total
of 309 court orders,
including 194 for search
and seizures at the
homes and businesses
of individuals allegedly
linked to the crimes.
"The operation
conducted today involves companies located in
several regions of Brazil, and also involves three of
JBS' facilities, two in Paraná and one in Goiás," the
company said at the time. "In the facility located
in Lapa, in the state of Paraná, a judicial measure
was issued against one of its veterinarians, a JBS
employee, who performs auxiliary inspection
services for the Ministry of Agriculture."
Again, JBS denied any wrongdoing,
saying "The company strongly repudiates any
practices related to product adulteration or
tampering, whether in the production or sale
of products, and it is available to address any
concerns with the authorities."

PUSH-BACK IN THE US
The following month, cattle producers and
consumer groups in the United States made
clear their concerns about meat products
imported from Brazil and urged the Trump
Administration to ban imports of Brazilian beef.
R-CALF launched a petition drive asking
for a Brazilian beef ban and reinstatement
of country of origin labeling. Food & Water
Watch, an environmental advocacy group,
urged then-Acting Agriculture Secretary
Michael Young to revoke the meat inspection
equivalency status of Brazil.
After months of uncertainty involving the
Batistas and other JBS executives, the company
announced that in May, seven executives of JBS
and parent company J&F Investimentos, agreed
to a plea bargain with federal prosecutors,
including paying a fine of nearly $68 million.
In addition to paying the fine, the executives
agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in
their anti-corruption investigations.
Around the same time, federal police
and the National Economic and Social
Development Bank (BNDES) launched
"Operation Bullish," an investigation into loans
made by the bank's subsidiary BNDESPAR.

MEAT+ POULTRY | 12.17 | www.meatpoultry.com

And in June, federal police raided the offices
of JBS and FB Participações SA as part of an
insider trading probe. The raid came three days
after JBS had reached an agreement to sell its
beef operations in Argentina, Paraguay and
Uruguay to companies controlled by Minerva
SA for $300 million.
Court documents would later show that
Joesley Batista admitted making illegal
payments to Michel Temer, the current
president of Brazil, and former Presidents
Dilma Rousseff and Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva. J&F Investimentos issued a statement
confirming that undercover recordings taken
by Joesley Batista were surrendered to
prosecutors as part of the plea deal.

UNDER ARREST, OUT OF TIME
The insider trading investigation prompted the
Supreme Court in Brazil to approve a warrant
for Joesley Batista's arrest - he surrendered
to authorities. Police arrested Wesley Batista
days later.
Federal prosecutors allege that Joesley
and Wesley Batista authorized the sale
of millions of JBS shares weeks before
submitting evidence of bribes paid to nearly
2,000 Brazilian officials, knowing that the
disclosures would cause the company's share
price to fall. The revelations sparked a sell-off
on the Brazilian stock exchange, and trading
was suspended temporarily. The Batistas later
repurchased the shares at a significantly lower
price, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors brought formal charges against
the brothers in October.

NO REGRETS
Speaking before a joint parliamentary
committee inquiry into JBS assembled in
November, Wesley Batista said he had no
regrets about entering a plea deal with federal
prosecutors. He said before making the
deal "...we had no idea how much it would
affect our lives, the lives of our families and
our children." He called the experience a
process of deep personal and professional
transformation.
Batista proclaimed his innocence, and
denied ever violating the plea agreement with
prosecutors.
The Batista brothers remain in pre-trial
detention by federal police in São Paulo.

JBS

30

2017
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - December 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat+Poultry - December 2017
