Justice Edson Fachin said in his decision that there is enough evidence that Joesley Batista and his alleged co-conspirator, Ricardo Saud, omitted information they were required to give at the time they made the plea agreement. So far, there are no indications that Wesley Batista’s plea agreement is in jeopardy.
Under the agreement, the Batistas and other executives were given 120 days to gather and hand over to prosecutors any evidence related to alleged bribes of politicians and other government officials. The evidence included a four-hour recording of Joesley Batista and another person discussing alleged “administrative impropriety” by a former federal prosecutor, Marcelo Miller. However, Brazil’s Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot said this information was omitted in previous discussions.
Joesley Batista and other executives reached the plea agreement with federal prosecutors after admitting to bribing nearly 2,000 Brazilian officials over a decade. The executives received immunity from prosecution in exchange for their cooperation with the investigation. Additionally, the Batistas were ordered to pay a fine of R$225 million (US$67.93 million).
