Judiciary in São Paulo Freezes US$ 246 million from Joesley Batista's Bank Accounts

06/02/2017 - 11h59

The Federal Judiciary in São Paulo granted an injunction ordering the freezing of R$ 800 million (US$ 246 million) in Bank Accounts belonging to Joesley Batista, the owner of J&F Corporation who recently entered into a plea-bargain agreement with the Federal General Prosecutor (PGR) after compromising President Michel Temer and other politicians in audio recordings.

The ruling, which can be appealed, was in response to an action filed by the lawyer Hugo Flizer Chaves Neto, which sought the freezing of R$10 billion (US$ 3,05 billion) in accounts from Joesley as well as his brother Wesley Batista, and requesting additionally that the measure be taken against J&F's holding company, JBS.

	Danilo Verpa/Folhapress
	Multi-millionaire businessman Joesley Batista

The measure seeks to ensure that assets are preserved to enable the future reimbursement for damages caused to public finances.

JBS is being investigated for allegedly improper currency exchange operations on the eve before the content of the plea-bargain agreement with the PGR was leaked.

Judge Tiago Bitencourt de David agreed to freeze only R$ 800 million (US$ 246 million), and only in funds belonging to Joesley.

In his explanation, the Magistrate declared that "Joesley's departure from the country is notorious, without knowing for certain where he is going to end up staying. It is equally difficult for the public to know about what operations were carried out between BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank) and JBS and the Batista family".

He went on to declare that the purchase of Dollars on the eve of the leak regarding the plea bargain "has never been clarified".

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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