The Brazilian Supreme Court suspended a $2.1 billion fine levied against Brazilian meat packer JBS, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The court’s decision was not made public, nor did it respond to requests for comment.
J&F Investments, the parent firm of JBS, had agreed to the fine in 2017 under a leniency agreement regarding its role in corruption scandals. JBS executives 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, 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 593 million of the total fine. However, depending on the evidence, the fine could be reduced to an amount lower than already paid.
