BRF execs barred from returning to chicken exporter
BRASILIA 鈥 Executives of major food processor BRF SA who were released by police on Friday will not be able to return to their posts at the company, the world鈥檚 largest poultry exporter, Brazil鈥檚 public prosecutor鈥檚 office said on Saturday.
A Brazilian judge ordered their suspension from their activities in the company to avoid the risk of them interfering with an ongoing investigation that they engaged in fraud to evade food safety inspections.
They were ordered to stay away from the company and any establishments BRF dealt with, including labs.
Police arrested former BRF chief executive officer Pedro Faria, the company鈥檚 former vice-president Helio dos Santos and other executives on Monday on charges that they knew the company engaged in fraud to evade food safety inspections.
All six people were set free on Friday.
BRF shares posted their biggest loss ever on the Sao Paulo stock exchange after the arrests that compounded concerns about the firm鈥檚 leadership following a 1.1-billion reais ($338-million) loss last year in the fallout from the 鈥淲eak Flesh鈥 investigation into alleged bribery of food-sanitation inspectors at BRF and other food Brazilian processors.
Major shareholders have been pushing to replace the entire BRF board of directors and Chairman Abilio Diniz, a billionaire retail magnate, in the wake of last year鈥檚 scandal.
Faria, BRF鈥檚 chief executive between 2015 and 2017, and Dos Santos, who resigned last week as BRF鈥檚 vice-president of global operations, spent the week in police custody with four other company officials in Curitiba, Paran谩 state.
In last year鈥檚 鈥淲eak Flesh鈥 probe, police accused scores of people, mostly inspectors, of taking bribes in exchange for allowing the sale of rancid meat products, falsifying export documents or failing to inspect meatpacking plants at all.
The scandal prompted several export markets to temporarily close their doors to Brazil, the world鈥檚 largest exporter of beef as well as chicken.
Brazil鈥檚 Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Wednesday there was no risk of countries applying new bans on Brazilian meat due to the new phase of the investigation. 鈥 Reuters
