Ricardo Saud, former Director of Institutional Relations at J&F Investimentos—the parent company of JBS—admitted that the company “donated bribes” to 1,829 candidates from 28 different political parties, as seen from a video published by Valor Econômico. According to his testimony in a plea bargain as part of Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato), the illicit donations totaled nearly R$600 million (approximately US$ 193 million at the time), mostly in exchange for favors in the public sector.
“Apart from these R$10, R$15 million here, the rest is all bribes. Everything has an act of office, everything has a promise, everything has something,” said Saud.
