Author: Everardo Maciel *

Source: Gazeta Mercantil, 31/05/2007

The fight against corruption must be firm and permanent, not histrionic. From “budget dwarfs” to “monthly allowance” and “leeches” and, more recently, “Operation Razor”, every time there are scandals associated with the misuse of public funds, a recurring ritual is practiced. First, the dramatization of the scandal; then, unfinished investigations, poorly prepared complaints and impunity for the guilty parties; finally, ineptitude in relation to acts or measures that may prevent corruption.

It seems that everyone is expecting new scandals. Yesterday, they were private foundations, works, ambulances; tomorrow, it could be streetlights, power plant equipment, etc.

The dramatization of scandals, based on CPIs or police actions, produces a media festival. Secrets are violated, in complete disregard for the law. Slanders are woven. The mere mention of a name in a phone call from suspects is proof enough for conviction.

I remember that, in the 60s, being on the phone book of a person persecuted by the regime was evidence that he was a “subversive”. Yesterday's phone book is today's cell phone. All authoritarianism is the same.
Suspects are held to be guilty (who will understand that a person arrested and handcuffed by the police, whose dignity is exposed in a vile way, is not guilty). If the outrageous action in relation to human dignity were not enough, the most serious thing is that the guilty and the innocent are confused. Nothing as useful to the criminal as mixing with innocents. It is opportune to remember Juvenal's verse, in Satires: who will keep us from our guards (“sed quis custodiet ipsos, custodes”)

People imagine that preventive detention or the whistle-blowing denouncement broadcast on television are forms of sentencing to life imprisonment or to the fifths of hell.
The fight against corruption must be firm, permanent and judicious, and not histrionic and inconsequential. Otherwise, we will trivialize corruption.

The haze of sensationalism blurs the ability to investigate, produce evidence and make consistent complaints. Then, everything is lost. Nothing happens. Society does not understand what happened or, more often, forgets these very regrettable episodes (“our Delúbio” clearly perceived this Brazilian cultural trait).
Investigating and reporting correctly are laborious and less showy activities. There is no media. The consequence is obvious: impunity prevails.

With the exception of certain substantially political judgments, carried out within the scope of the National Congress, and perhaps the case of the headquarters of the Regional Labor Court of São Paulo, does anyone remember a process that resulted in effective condemnation of the pirates of public money?
How many innocents, however, have been condemned, as a result of politically shady interests
By the way, how many were denounced and convicted for violating the Fiscal Responsibility Law

In terms of actions that can prevent new scandals, I will raise some questions. Why the National Congress does not approve a law that regulates lobbying activities, in process for 17 years

Why are voluntary transfers from the Union to states and municipalities, operated by individual or collective amendments of parliamentarians, that pollute our awkward fiscal federalism, convert deputies and senators into federal councilors, serve as an instrument for political negotiations in matters of interest Executive Branch and give rise to corruption cases involving contractors, suppliers, politicians and intermediaries of all kinds
Why public budgets are subject to exclusive scrutiny by a special commission, where the most suspicious interests pass through
Why is admitting the blending of public offices with political indications that, if understood in an indulgent way, are at least a practice of compadrio
Why bids do not favor electronic means that mitigate the spurious agreement between bidders
Why the results of the bidding procedures are not transmitted over the internet, with information that allows social control

Does the political inaction in relation to preventive attitudes towards corruption not result from a kind of unhealthy complacency in Brazilian society towards different inequities?
We didn't say that the animal game was a “consented contravention”
Let us not reelect politicians who have committed all kinds of crimes and politicians themselves do not understand that this reelection is a form of pardon practiced by the people
We do not justify invasions of private property or public buildings by “social movements”, on the grounds that they are not subject to “bourgeois” law
We do not tolerate the existence of criminal organizations on the outskirts of large cities, killing, addicting and enticing, especially young people
We do not have a merciful understanding with those who defraud the tax authorities
We do not accept the "law that does not stick"

Why the national conscience is silent in the face of these sad obviousities
The tolerance of Brazilians with authoritarian practices and with corruption gives credit to Gilberto Freyre's phrase: “Brazil is an American Russia”.
Our main crisis is moral. Brazil needs to change. Unfortunately, it will take time.

* Everardo Maciel - Tax consultant and former Federal Revenue Secretary. Next article by the author on June 21)