26 May, 2017
Those companies, such as Odebrecht SA, where 78 executives made plea bargains, rely on government contracts and had to exercise caution, said Felippe Serigati, a professor of agricultural economics at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo who has studied JBS.
The prospect of Brazil tumbling back into political paralysis just a year after the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff sent the benchmark Bovespa stock index toppling 9 percent on Thursday, its biggest daily decline since the 2008 financial crisis.
On Friday, the Supreme Court released court filings in which Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot accused Temer of attempting to block a huge anti-corruption investigation known as "Car Wash".
Upon hearing about the bribe scheme, Temer says, "You need to keep it going, OK?"
Later on Friday, the entirety of Batista's plea bargain was expected to be released.
Local newspaper reported on Wednesday that a leading meatpacking company chairman had recorded his conversation with Temer and turned the recordings over to the Supreme Court.
In another, Mr Temer is accused of pocketing about 350,000 U.S. dollars of 4.5 million dollars in illegal campaign finance channelled by the Workers' Party for the 2014 presidential ticket that included Mr Temer as vice presidential candidate.
"There is no chance there was editing of the original material because it was never subject to any sort of meddling", said the statement by J&F Investimentos, a Batista family company that is the controlling shareholder of JBS.
In addition to the three presidents, congressmen, ministers and several governors and mayors of major cities were named in the testimony.
"Car Wash reveals that all the political parties were involved in graft, including the ruling parties", said Carvalho.
Under the plea deal, Batista said Temer received BRL15m ($4.61m) from JBS.
Dozens of inquiries have also been launched against the current political establishment, including a third member of Temer's cabinet.
On Thursday, Temer emphatically refused to step down after the Supreme Court authorized a probe against him.
Following a terse statement denying wrongdoing on Thursday, Temer on Saturday spoke for around 12 minutes, seeking not only to discredit the evidence but also the person who recorded it.
Despite these revelations, Temer stated on Thursday that he did not know the contents of the recording, and added that he had officially asked the Supreme Court for access to these documents. A lawyer for Rousseff could not immediately be located, though the former leader has repeatedly said she has committed no corrupt acts.
And Cunha, formerly one of the most powerful insiders in Congress, has always been rumored to have threatened to spill secrets on other politicians to prosecutors.
The constant march of indictments and new scandals has led to near paralysis in Brasilia, the capital, and led to widespread calls among Brazilians for new elections. This would require Congress to approve a constitutional change. The country is still rattled by mysterious plane crashes - one in January that killed a top anti-corruption judge, and another in 2014 that killed a Neves political opponent.
The latest to demand snap elections was former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday.
The measure, which passed the Senate last month, must still be approved by the lower house.
Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, needs to walk out of shadow of corruption, said Carvalho.
Janot also alleges Temer (who heads the Brazilian Democratic Movement party) and Aécio (the head of the Social Democratic Party of Brazil) tried to use laws and appointments to disrupt the investigation.
