Brazilian Prosecution Office Indicts JBS' Executives and Ignores Agreement

05/16/2018 - 12h28

The Federal Prosecution Office indicted JBS' executives and informers Joesley Batista and Francisco de Assis on charges of active corruption, money laundering, violation of functional confidentiality and obstruction of investigations.

The charges, filed on April 27 and kept confidential, breaks the immunity granted by the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR) to the executives in the plea bargain agreements executed a year ago, which protected them from being charged for crimes committed.

The indictment accuses prosecutor Ângelo Goulart Vilella of receiving allowances from JBS to leak internal information from the Federal District's Prosecution Office to the executives.

	Fátima Meira/Futura Press/Folhapress
	Joesley Batista

The president of OAB-DF (Brazilian Bar Association), Juliano Costa Couto, lawyer Willer Tomaz and the advertising executive André Gustavo Vieira were also indicted.

According to the document, prosecutors state that the group withheld and masked the bribe received between February 21 and March 2, 2017, in exchange for benefits offered to JBS, which was under investigation in operation Greenfield. Conducted by the Federal Prosecution Office, the operation investigates irregular use of money from pension funds.

The indictment is based on JBS executives' plea bargain and the controlled action by Francisco de Assis, authorized by the Supreme Court.

In April 2017, Joesley and Assis signed an agreement with the PGR. After finding out the executives had omitted material information, general prosecutor Janot requested the termination of the agreements, a request which was also submitted by his successor, Raquel Dodge.

Translated by ANA BEATRIZ DEMARIA

Read the article in the original language