The Brazilian leather industry is reeling after the news, published by Reuters, that the brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista, CEO and president of the meat/tanning giant JBS, have been banned from running their business by judge Vallisney De Souza Oliveira from the Justiça Federal de Brasília, as part of an investigation called Operação Greenfield and with regard to irregularities in some pensions funds involving 38 other local managers. Reuters wrote that the judge asked the Batistas to “quit their company offices, abstain from all financial activities and to hand over their passports to the authorities” or go to jail. JBS, in a press release, claims to have heard about these decisions from the press alone and not officially from any court, and that the investigation does not regard the “parent” company or even JBS Couros, but some companies in the group, like J&F Investimentos and Eldorado Celulose, specialised in the timber sector. JBS concluded by stating that it is waiting to receive the official papers from the court before deciding how to proceed in defending its business.
Brazil, JBS shock: the Batista brothers (CEO and President) “banned from doing business”
