Entity denounces setbacks in the fight against corruption in Brazil to the OECD

TI (Transparency International Brazil) delivered this Wednesday (9) to the anti-bribery group of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) a report with complaints of setbacks in the fight against corruption in Brazil.

In the document, TI points out what it sees as the purchase of political support with a secret budget, the omission of the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, and the rigging of control bodies.

The fight against corruption, alongside environmental policy, are the two biggest obstacles to Brazil’s access to the OECD, one of President Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) goals. Brazil was officially accepted in January of this year to start the process of accession to the entity.

TI, which has subsidized the discussions of the anti-bribery group, asks in the report, the sheetthat the OECD secretary-general take into account the deterioration of Brazil’s legal and institutional framework when assessing the country’s aptitude to join the entity, “so that any accession does not mean an endorsement of practices incompatible with the guidelines” of the body .

Throughout the accession process, which takes an average of four years, Brazil needs to adhere to a series of instruments, and the 38 countries that make up the OECD will assess compliance with them.

In early 2021, the OECD, for the first time, created a task force specifically dedicated to monitoring corruption in Brazil. The entity cited concern about the “surprising” end of Lava Jato, the use of the law against abuse of authority and the difficulties in sharing information from financial agencies for investigations.

In the report sent to the anti-bribery group, which is meeting in Paris this week to assess countries, TI says that Bolsonaro “neutralized the two main political and legal pillars of the system of checks and balances that limit power and ensure accountability of the Presidency of the Republic. This architecture of impunity expands through interference with control bodies”.

According to Bruno Brandão, executive director of Transparency International Brazil, it is essential that the anti-bribery group consider Brazil’s failure to comply with the OECD convention against corruption. “We want the accession process to the OECD to be an opportunity to reverse Brazil’s setbacks in the fight against corruption”, says Brandão.

In November last year, Drago Kos, head of the OECD’s anti-bribery group, said he was “concerned” about Brazil.

“If you asked me three or four years ago about the fight against corruption in Brazil, I would have a very simple answer: Brazil is one of the best, it proved that it can go from zero in the fight against corruption to 100% and that could be said over all the institutions in the country. Now, there are just a few individuals and one or two institutions engaged in the fight against corruption”, he said during a panel at Fundação FHC.

“Brazil was a typical case of a highly corrupt country, which exploded, in the positive sense, proving, with Lava Jato, that it would be willing to deal with even the most difficult cases of corruption.”

The TI report also cites the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that the Electoral Justice must judge common crimes (such as corruption and money laundering) that are connected with electoral crimes.

“[A decisão] brings a systemic impact to Brazil’s ability to investigate and prosecute large corruption schemes, as many of them are linked to illegal campaign financing and are now under the jurisdiction of the Electoral Justice, which is less specialized and has fewer resources” , says the report.

The text sent to the OECD states that Aras “proved his docility” with the political class, and the Speaker of the House, Arthur Lira, accumulated an “extraordinary power” by centralizing control of the secret budget.

“…There is concern that the invitation [para iniciar o processo de acesso à OCDE] takes place at a time of continuous dismantling of structures that, for years, were used to fight corruption, promote human rights, preserve the environment and, ultimately, protect democracy in the country.”