Eldorado case: Another arbitrator leaves court dispute

The arbitration process in which Paper Excellence and J&F fight for the shareholding control of Eldorado Brasil had yet another low. The arbitrator José Emilio Nunes Pinto delivered, this week, his resignation request to the International Chamber of Commerce (CCI). The statement comes after the company of brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista accuse him of proximity to lawyers for the opposing part.

This is the second arbitrator to leave the case. José Emilio had been appointed to the arbitral tribunal by J&F itself. The company now claims, however, that he did not reveal important information when he accepted the role.

According to J&F, one of the offices that defends Paper Excellence, represents José Emilio in tax lawsuits. The arbitrator would have even granted several powers of attorney to the bank during the arbitration process that discusses the control of Eldorado.

“The situation was not revealed in the process, as it should have been, leading J&F and Eldorado, who nominated the aforementioned arbitrator, to declare the loss of confidence necessary for him to continue in the role”, says the company in a document filed with the CCI.

ARBITRATOR VERSION

In the resignation letter sent to CCI, José Emilio denies that he is close to the office that works for Paper Excellence. The information presented by J&F, he says, is incomplete or misleading. He was an attorney for a foreign company and that company had a contract with the bank that also defends Paper Excellence. “It was not up to me to choose the lawyers”, he said.

José Emilio states that he does not intend to “dispute but highlight the misunderstanding in the use of information”. He completes the letter by saying that there is no room to discuss whether the declaration of loss of confidence is justified. “This is a matter of the intimate forum of those who allege”, he concludes.

The court is composed of three arbitrators. Two are nominated by the parties and suggest the name of a third, who becomes the president of the court. The arbitrator appointed by Paper Excellence, in this case, also submitted a resignation request. Anderson Schreiber left the role in August of last year, after accusations by J & F that he would have shared an office with lawyers who work for the opposing party and had not revealed this information in the process.

Of the original formation – which had been judging the case since 2019 and handed down a sentence for the transfer of control of Eldorado to Paper Excellence – only Spaniard Juan Fernásndez-Armesto, president of the court, remains. Schreiber was replaced, just last year, by the Portuguese Paulo Mota Pinto.