J&F accuses Transparency International of appropriating Lava Jato leniency agreements

J&F Investimentos, managed by brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista, accused this Monday, 5th, Transparency International (TI) of having appropriated resources from the company's leniency agreement, signed in 2017. This Monday, 5th, the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Dias Toffoli determined that the Attorney General's Office (PGR) should open an investigation into the NGO's participation in Operation Lava Jato.

In a note sent to Estadão, Transparency International stated that J&F's accusations are “false” and represent a “dishonest attitude” by the business group. The NGO also stated that it will sue the company in the future.

“Transparência Internacional Brasil categorically rejects the new false accusations and denounces, once again, the dishonest attitude of the J&F business group, in retaliation for the organization's work. The truth will be recovered in the records and TI Brasil will sue the company in the appropriate forum”, said J&F.

J&F said, in a note published this Monday, the 5th, that TI tried to “insistently” appropriate the resources of its leniency agreement and that of other companies. According to the business group, the director of the NGO, Bruno Brandão, indicated the organization's details to receive the deposit of the fine installments, while the foundation responsible for managing the amounts was still being structured.

“The duty and right to execute the social projects provided for in the leniency agreement belonged to J&F itself. An order from the Federal Public Ministry in April 2019 pressured the company to accept the governance conditions imposed by Transparency International. It was J&F’s resistance to diverting these resources that frustrated prosecutors and their partners and worsened the persecution against the company,” the company said in a statement.

The business group also stated that Transparency International's reaction to Toffoli's decision “demonstrates that it is not committed to the values ​​it preaches”.

The NGO denies having received amounts from the agreement, directly or indirectly. The information was also denied, in 2020, by deputy attorney Samantha Dobrowolski, who was coordinator of the extinct commission set up at the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) to advise on leniency and plea bargain agreements.

In a note published on Monday afternoon, the NGO stated that it never appropriated the resources obtained by Lava Jato, calling the accusations that motivated Toffoli's decision “false”. “Hostile reactions to Transparency International’s anti-corruption work are increasingly serious and common in many parts of the world. Attacks on critical voices in society, which denounce the corruption and impunity of powerful people, cannot, to emphasize, be naturalized”, he said

Dias Toffoli's decision came a week after the minister was cited nine times in a 27-page report on the perception of corruption in Brazil in 2023. The magistrate's name appears in a criticism of “reserves of authority” and “exacerbated powers” of the Judiciary.

Toffoli was also criticized for having annulled the evidence of a leniency agreement from Odebrecht (now Novonor) and suspended the reimbursement to public coffers by the contractor. Last Tuesday, the 1st, he extended the benefit to J&F, owned by the Batista brothers.

Understand IT’s participation in Lava Jato

In 2018, Transparency International signed a memorandum with the MPF and J&F to help manage and execute a portion of the R$2.3 billion fine, reserved for investments in social projects.

The document, attached to the leniency agreement, highlights the “notorious experience” of Transparency International in the areas of governance, transparency and anti-corruption and provides that the NGO will support the “design and structuring of the governance system for the disbursement of resources” that would be dedicated to social projects.