Teacher recommends single standard for accountability
Valor Econômico - Special Section - Fighting Corruption - 17/08/2012
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Unlike countries like Mexico and Italy, where corruption is closely linked to criminal groups that seek to maintain their position based on illicit acts, in Brazil it is very much centered on the public sphere and its use for private purposes. With a recent democratic history, which began in the late 1980s, the country is making good progress on the subject. The opinion is of professor Rita de Cássia Biason, coordinator of the Group of Studies and Research on Corruption at Unesp, who also believes that corruption cases are not growing in the country, but that this impression stems from their greater visibility in the media.
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"We have made good strides in fighting corruption and we could do more with some small acts", says the professor. At the end of the semester, she did a work with her students to analyze how the courts of accounts of States and municipalities are accountable to the population. What was found was that each one accounts in a different way and some of them do not publish them on the website, giving visibility to the result. “A single standard could be defined that could be used by all states' courts of accounts”, says Rita de Cássia, who stresses that perhaps the existence of the Public Transparency Law, in force since May, may increase the requirement for rendering public accounts from various spheres of government.
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Member of a study group on corruption of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the professor says that, while developed countries are concerned with corruption, mainly concerning companies that seek to circumvent bidding rules, in Brazil the picture is reversed and is more present in the public sphere. "State companies and federal, state and municipal governments increasingly need instruments to combat unethical practices," he says.
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In his view, corruption has not grown in Brazil in recent years. The impression, very present in society, would reflect four factors that make the subject more visible, he says. First, since 1989, with direct elections for all elective positions, Brazil is entering a democratic period in which leaders gain greater visibility, while the press plays the role of inspecting power. Second, with the end of censorship, the media has a more investigative role, seeking cases of great repercussion. Third, the internet makes it easy to cross and search for data. Finally, regulation of the public sphere is increasingly discussed. “Brazil lived a long time without democracy and, when we entered it, we entered a phase of innocence, we thought that everything would be blue, forgetting that in the end democracy is management of uncertainties, that the actors have different roles.”
