JBS: Recorded talks reveal Joesley Batista’s game

Débora Brito reports from Agência Brasil 

In the four hours of recorded conversation released to the public Wednesday (Sep 6) by the Supreme Court, executive Joesley Batista displays a confident and calm demeanor regarding talks for a plea bargain deal with the Prosecutor-General’s Office (PGR) benefiting him and the negotiations of the J&F group, which controls JBS. Executive Ricardo Saud, in turn, expresses concern. The two are being investigated for their alleged involvement in a scheme of bribery and illicit favors in connection with members of the Executive and Legislative. Their goal at the moment they had their voices recorded, on March 17—when Operation Weak Flesh was launched, into J&F units—was to forge a plea bargain deal whereby they would disclose relevant information in exchange of their liberty.

The recorded conversations—which had not been brought to the authorities by Batista—led prosecutors to believe that Batista and Saud would omit information from the prosecution during their negotiations on the plea bargain statements, which caused Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot to open an investigation into the matter, in addition to the suspicion that former prosecutor Marcello Miller—who worked at the cabinet of the PGR—could be taking part in Batista and Saud’s scheme. Authorities now suspect that Miller acted as a double agent in the plea bargain deal. He served at the PGR at the time of the talks and left his position to work for a law firm on behalf of JBS.

Concern vs. Trust

In the conversation with Ricardo Saud, Batista several times repeats he can “read people’s minds” and that he understands what the Prosecution Service (MP) is doing. Despite saying he has “nothing settled yet” with the MP, Batista says he is convinced that the PGR would not deny a plea bargain deal that could benefit the group. At some points, the executive goes as far as to laugh and insists that he thinks “everything is normal.” “We’re not going to be arrested. Period,” Batista declares.

Over the course of the recordings, it becomes clear that the executive is playing “a game of cards” as someone who is certain of his victory. He tells his fellow executive: “We’ll pull it out, and walk off friends with everybody. We’ll not be arrested, and we’ll get the company saved.”

The benefits granted them as part of the plea bargain deal, Janot declared, can be nullified, if the suspicions of omission of information and wrongdoing are proved true.