As the spreading Brazilian corruption scandal continues to ensnare politicians and companies, the country s government on Monday charged President Michel Temer with agreeing to accept $11.5 million in bribes from one of the world s largest meat processers, JBS SA.
More charges are likely to follow and could lead to further political instability in the country.
The scandal, however, is not without a silver lining for U.S. compliance experts. Hui Chen, until last Friday the contract compliance counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, has already booked two trips to Brazil to speak on compliance best practices.
Chen drew public attention before her recent exit from the DOJ by tweeting about her displeasure with President Donald Trump.
There is a real need for people in [Brazil] to be trained now, she told Corporate Counsel in an interview Tuesday. I have developed an intense interest in Brazil personally and professionally because of the political corruption developments.
Those developments include Monday s charges against Temer. Previously JBS controlling shareholder and ex-board chairman, Joesley Batista, pleaded guilty to bribery charges and implicated Temer along with hundreds of other politicians. Batista resigned on May 26.
The company, which has a major U.S. subsidiary, JBS USA, has said it is fully cooperating in the ongoing investigation.
Prosecutor General of Brazil, Rodrigo Janot, submitted the bribery charge against Temer in a document presented to the Supreme Court. He said Temer fooled Brazilian citizens and owed the nation millions of dollars for accepting bribes, according to a Reuters report.
Temer and his attorney, Antonio Mariz, have declined comment on the charge, Reuters wrote. Temer has previously said he is innocent of any wrongdoing in the bribery scandal.
It will take a two-thirds majority vote in the lower house of the Brazilian Congress to put Temer, who replaced impeached President Dilma Rousseff just over a year ago, on trial. Reuters called the bribery charge against Temer a blow to ... political stability in Latin America s largest country.
Investigators in the growing scandal have found that corporations have paid billions of dollars in bribes to Brazilian politicians and executives in order to land lucrative contracts at state-run enterprises.
Temer s coalition claims to have enough votes to block a trial, according to Reuters, but prosecutors have indicated they will continue to file other charges against Temer one by one. On Monday, for instance, federal police recommended charging the president with obstruction of justice.
Top lawmakers told Reuters that presenting charges one at a time could cause public outrage, followed by defections from Temer s coalition. That would leave him with an uncertain future.