Transparency International Points to ‘Setbacks’ in Fight Against Corruption in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Transparency International stated on Tuesday, October 13th, that Brazil is experiencing setbacks in the fight against corruption. The organization perceives a “progressive deterioration of the anti-corruption institutional framework in the country”.

The assessments are included in two reports released on Tuesday by the non-governmental organization and forwarded to the Anti-Bribery Working Group of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Financial Action Task Force against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (FATF).

Questioned, the Planalto Palace reported that it will not comment on the reports.

According to Transparency International, the data in the reports prove a progressive deterioration of the anti-corruption institutional framework in the country, over which the President and other authorities have direct responsibility, according to the NGO.

“The reports directly challenge recent statements by President Jair Bolsonaro about having ‘put an end’ to Operation Lava Jato because in his government ‘there is no more corruption,’” Transparency International said in a press release.

The first study is the “Exporting Corruption” global report, which assesses how the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions is implemented. The text was signed within the OECD framework in 1997. Brazil ratified the treaty in 2000.

The second document is called “Brazil: Setbacks in the Legal and Institutional Frameworks (2020 Update)” and provides a compilation and review of events in the past 12 months that the organization considers “setbacks in the country’s fight against corruption” and that, according to the body, sheds light on the “worrying upsurge in political interference with key bodies in the fight against corruption, such as the Federal Police, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Supreme Court.”

This report mentions the investigations into Bolsonaro and the President’s purported “interference” with control agencies as setback factors.

Within the scope of the Judiciary, the report mentions Supreme Court rulings that, according to the document, resulted in “greater legal insecurity, setbacks in jurisprudence and discredit of the constitutional court at a time when it is most attacked by emerging authoritarianism in the country.”

The report points out as an indication of regression what it considered a loss of independence of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The document also points as setbacks what it referred to as threats to dismantle the task forces of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, such as the Greenfield task force, and the collective dismissals of the Lava Jato task force prosecutors in São Paulo and the Lava Jato workgroup in Brasília.

Transnational Corruption

According to the “Exporting Corruption” international report, there was no progress in Brazil’s fight against transnational corruption, the main target of the study.

Brazil was classified under the category of moderately implementing the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials rules, with the main reason being the absence of specific and substantial cases and sanctions involving acts of corruption committed by Brazilian individuals and companies abroad.

The document also criticizes the lack of transparency of leniency agreements. According to the text, keeping part of the agreements confidential prevents authorities and civil society from having access to information about illegal conduct. Access to such information would help solve other cases, says the report.

International Organizations

According to Transparency International, the reports released on Tuesday were forwarded to the OECD Anti-Bribery Working Group, which is tasked with monitoring compliance with the Transnational Bribery Convention, which meets between Tuesday, October 13th and Friday, October 16th.

According to the organization, the documents were also forwarded to the FATF, whose plenary meeting will take place between October 21st and 23rd.

Transparency International states that Brazil will be evaluated during this week’s OECD Anti-Bribery Group meeting and next year will undergo periodic reviews by the FATF and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. According to the NGO, other international organizations also received the reports.

Source: G1