U.S. senators call for probe of Brazilian meatpacker JBS

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators called on the U.S. Treasury on Tuesday to open an investigation into the world’s largest meat processing company, Brazil’s JBS S.A. (SA:), due to alleged ties with the Venezuelan government of leftist President Nicolas Maduro.

Senators Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asking that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review transactions by JBS, which has bought several American meat companies in recent years, Rubio’s press office tweeted.

“This meat-processing conglomerate has engaged in illicit financial activities and has business ties with the Maduro regime,” the Twitter post said.

A JBS representative did not respond to a request for comment. Venezuela’s Information Ministry also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s government has imposed sanctions on dozens of top Venezuelan officials as well as state oil company PDVSA in an effort to remove Maduro, whom it accuses of fixing elections last year and abusing human rights in the oil-rich nation.

In August, Washington froze all Venezuelan state assets in the United States and threatened sanctions on any company continuing to do business with the government.

The senators said in their letter to Mnuchin – made public on Tuesday – that CFIUS should investigate the business transactions among JBS, the Venezuelan Corporation of Foreign Trade (CORPOVEX) and Diosdado Cabello, a powerful ally of Maduro who is under U.S. sanctions.

The senators did not provide any further details about the alleged transactions.

The senators said JBS had engaged in the bribery of public officials in Brazil to obtain funds to expand abroad, acquiring in recent years U.S. meat-packer Swift Foods Co and chicken producer Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.

Brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista, founders of JBS’s holding company J&F, signed plea bargain and leniency deals in May 2017 in which they confessed to running a political bribery ring in Brazil.

“We ask CFIUS conduct a review of JBS SA’s acquisition of U.S. companies to assess the implications for security and safety of America’s food supply and, in turn, our national security,” the senators said in their letter.

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