Brazilian tycoon Batista arrested after lawyers send prosecutors the wrong tape

A Brazilian billionaire at the centre of a corruption case involving President Michel Temer has handed himself in to federal police officers in the city of Sao Paulo.

 

A Supreme Court judge accused the tycoon, Joesley Batista, of hiding evidence he was obliged to provide as part of a plea bargain agreement.


Mr Temer denied the allegations and said he was an unreliable witness.


Mr Batista is the head of the world's largest meat-packing company, JBS.


He made a secret recording of Mr Temer in May in which the president apparently admitted paying bribes to influential Brazilian politicians.

 

The tycoon made a deal with the prosecutor's office.


He would reveal all that he knew about the alleged corruption scheme in exchange for more lenient treatment from prosecutors.


JBS executives have been implicated in Operation Car Wash, the vast investigation into corruption at state oil giant Petrobras.



BBC    News.