BRASILIA (Reuters) – A Brazilian Supreme Court justice suspended a 10.3 billion real ($2.10 billion) fine on J&F, the firm that controls the world’s largest meatpacker, JBS, according to a decision seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
The court’s decision was not made public, and the court did not immediately respond to requests for comments. J&F declined to comment.
J&F had agreed to pay the fine in 2017 under a leniency agreement over its role in corruption scandals. Its founders, Joesley and Wesley Batista had confessed, in a plea bargain deal, to running a political bribery ring.
The company had requested the court to suspend the fine, arguing that prosecutors were biased and had taken “clearly persecutory actions.”
J&F’s request came after the justice overseeing the case, Dias Toffoli, ruled in September to annul all evidence related to a similar leniency agreement with the construction firm formerly called Odebrecht, based on messages that indicated collusion between the judge on that case and prosecutors.
In the ruling on J&F’s case, dated Tuesday, Toffoli argued that there is “at the very least, reasonable doubt” as to whether the company adhered to the agreement with federal prosecutors voluntarily, “which justifies, for the time being, the suspension of payments.”
According to a source with knowledge of the case, J&F has already paid 2.9 billion reais of the total fine. However, depending on the evidence, the fine could be reduced to an amount lower than already paid.
Toffoli also gave the company permission to reevaluate terms of the agreement reached with prosecutors through the country’s comptroller general’s office to “correct any abuses” that could have been committed.
($1 = 4.8996 reais)
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Peter Frontini; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
