The world’s largest meatpacking company has agreed to pay a record fine for their role in a corruption scandal in Brazil, after the owners gave testimony against the Brazilian President under a plea bargain.
The fine will be paid by the controlling shareholder of JBS, J&F Investimentos, to the tune of 10.3 billion real. J&F Investimentos agreed to pay the sum after investigation in two corruption scandals.
The scandals may well topped the presidency of Michel Temer, after J&F’s owners, Joesley and Wesley Batista, gave evidence under a plea bargain. Though the pair have since resigned, they admitted to spending 600m real to bribe around 1,900 politicians.
The payments will be effective as of December and J&F will have 25 years to make them.
The fine is shocking in its size, bigger than the recent $2.6 billion fine agreed by Brazil’s engineering giant Odebrecht after a scandal involving Brazilian oil giant Petrobras.
