Corruption is so inserted in the Brazilian culture that everyone knows at least one person or one case involving corruption in this country. It covers virtually all sectors and is very costly to the nation's development. The most frequent case was of public officials that oversee smuggling and other crimes against the Portuguese crown. Instead of fulfilling their duties, they ended up practicing the illegal trade of Brazilian products such as Brazil wood, spices, tobacco, gold, and diamonds. While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking, it is not restricted to these activities. Today, Brazil is going through a delicate situation when talking about corruption because of the theft, fraud, and scams especially in the political class where lead people continue to discredit the country.
All this bribery, big monthly allowance, and over billing makes Brazil lose per year between $41.5 billion and $69.1 billion according to a study of the department of technology and competitiveness (Decomtec) Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp). On a scale of zero to ten by the NGO Transparency International, whereby the lower the score, the higher the corruption index, the country has 3.7 points. The same score of least corrupt nations is (7.45), the Brazilian citizen could be 15.5% richer. In recent years, it can be noted by observing the events where more and more scandals involving senators and ministers are uncovered. The perfect example is the "monthly allowance", a big and famous scandal known as mensalao that is being judge right now and it is reported daily in the media. The lack of punishment still prevails and almost everything ever ends in nothing while the Brazilians eagerly await a solution that never comes. This lies in the role of justice, ending the current framework of lethargy and making laws more effective and equitable for all classes. In my opinion, it is possible with restructuring rules in the country to act with equality between classes and acquire more rigor and agility.
What is most impressive is when the new Congress took over office in 2011, the deputies and senators found out almost 70 bills on preventing and combating the corruption that still await vote. In 2009, only one project was approved, the Complementary Law 131. This obliges the federal, state, and municipal governments to disclose "details" on the budgetary and financial execution. This law was born of other previous projects, such as Project Transparency of Janet Capiberibe. This called for the exposure of the public accounts on the internet since 2003 and became flag combating corruption since then.
This year, there was only one project for anti-corruption that was voted and approved was the Clean Record Act. The Act prevents access to elective positions of persons who have been convicted of crimes with greater social impact. This new act has been in the Congress since 1990 and it was only approved as a result of public pressure. The anti-corruption projects are discussed by the committees for years entering the congressional agenda; however, they do not go forward, they stand still, and lack the political will to be discussed and approved. According to the chief minister of the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), Jorge Hage Sobrinho “the Clean Record Act was considered by the Minister as an important achievement of Brazilian society since the pressure made by the population was crucial to its adoption. It is a law of the up most importance, as it will prevent the election of numerous figures that have been characterized by acts of dishonesty and corruption". In addition to the laws that have yet to be approved, Hage said that the radical transparency, this law should hinder acts of corruption in the government since the agents are much more exposed. While acknowledging recent advances such as the Law on Access to Information Act and the Clean Record Act, the minister reckons that the current rules are insufficient to combat administrative misconduct in Brazil.
Today, there is one important bill that is in Congress to avoid impunity in corruption cases. The first is the Constitutional Amendment Project (SGP) which ends with the suspensive effect of appeals and extraordinary which encourages impunity for defendants convicted of corruption, especially the wealthy. In this project, a defendant can only begin serving his sentence after the sentence has been handed down, or when exhausted all possibilities of appeal. By design, the judgment on appeal is sufficient for the arrest of convicted even fit resources to higher courts.
It is almost unbelievable, but today in Brazil it is hard to put a corrupt chain for those who can afford to pay good law firms. They can prolong the process indefinitely to prevent the sentence to become final. Another important proposal is the Bill 6826/2010, which penalizes businesses corrupting in civil and administrative framework. The law provides that the very company that offers or gives bribes and commits fraud in public tenders is punishable by fine on its earnings and compensation for damage caused to the public coffers. The punishments are valid even when these companies make unlawful contracts with foreign governments.
Due to the lack of punishment in 2005, the mensalão scandal was uncovered with a video recording in which the former Chief DECAM, Maurício Marinho was also requested and received an undue advantage to illegally benefit from a bogus business. In trading, then established with the fake businessman Mauricio Marinho, explained the scheme of bribery of officials that an existing public company as evident from reading the article published in the magazine Veja. The Mensalão scandal is scheme of parliamentary vote buying. This is the name given to the biggest political crisis suffered by the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) in 2005/2006 in Brazil and had a lawsuit filed in public ministry called Criminal Action 470. In total, there are 38 defendants accused by the Attorney General's Office for the crimes of conspiracy, embezzlement, money laundering, mismanagement, corruption and tax evasion active and passive. The trial of the mensalão has already started on August 2nd and promises to be historic. This is the most important case in the history of the Supreme Court since the return to democracy. The objective is to reveal those elements that are violating the public’s rights.
In conclusion, the first records of illegal practices in Brazil were recorded during the Portuguese colonization, it will be difficult to clean up the corruption, but we can make it harder to happen. I believe that the main fuel of this process is impunity. If the level of corruption in the country has decreased, more resources would be freed for productive activities. This could generate more jobs, more infrastructure, and greater economic growth, which translates into gains in competitiveness.