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Public Prosecutor Anselmo Lopes filed a criminal action against J&F for defamation in a request made by the holding company to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to suspend the leniency agreement signed within the scope of Lava Jato in Operation Greenfield. To the Supreme Court, the Batista brothers' holding company stated that it had come under pressure from the Federal Public Ministry to dispose of assets, such as Eldorado Celulose, purchased by Paper Excellence.

 

In the same request to the STF, the holding company raises suspicions about collusion between attorney Anselmo Lopes and businessman Josmar Verillo to sell the paper and cellulose company. J&F claims that the “teratological value” of the fine contained in the leniency forced the sale of assets. “Precisely to avoid losing everything, Eldorado was sold, a sale that would directly benefit businessman Josmar Verillo, who was in dialogue with attorney Anselmo Lopes – coordinator of Lava Jato in Operation Greenfield”, he explains.

 

In the action, however, the prosecutor points out that he has no connection with the businessman. Lopes says that he was surprised by the accusations and that he searched on Google to find out who Josmar Verillo was. The executive is one of the founders of Amarribo Brasil, an anti-corruption association, and also served as a consultant on the board of directors of Paper Excellence.

 

 

The public prosecutor claims that there is no record of a meeting with the businessman and that the holding company created a false narrative to discredit him. “As if the scrutinized defamation were not enough, the holding company J&F, through lawyer Francisco de Assis e Silva, still falsely states that the Federal Public Ministry had demanded the sale of the company Eldorado in order to sign the leniency agreement”, he states in the memo.

 

For him, it is clear in J&F's petition that it was not the Federal Public Ministry that was interested in selling the company, but it was J&F itself that was interested in the leniency agreement “so that it could sell part of its assets and thus be able to face the renegotiation of debts with private banks”.

 

In addition to taking legal action against J&F, the prosecutor forwarded the memorandum to the Attorney General's Office to assess possible bad faith litigation on the part of the holding company and the possibility of terminating Francisco de Assis e Silva's award-winning collaboration agreement. The document highlights that in clause 15,

 

When contacted by JOTA, J&F said it would not comment.

 

Understand the dispute between J&F and Paper Excellence

After minister Dias Toffoli annulled the evidence of the leniency agreement of the former Odebrecht, now Novonor, J&F called the STF in search of the extension of the effects of this decision and the consequent suspension of payment of the leniency agreement signed with the MPF and all legal transactions of a patrimonial nature. For the holding, there is evidence of irregularities – which may have contaminated the negotiation – sufficient to “suspend the payments under the agreement and the effectiveness of all documents that have been signed as a result of these illegalities”.

 

This movement has a direct impact on the legal dispute with Paper Excellente. Until then, J&F was seeking in court to annul an arbitration decision by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that won the case for Paper Excellence and recognized, by 3 votes to 0, the company's right to take control of Eldorado Celulose. At the time, the R$15 billion deal was not finalized, as J&F did not accept the result and took legal action.