Folha de São Paulo - 10/09/2011
It is not always that important names of law and economics are read to analyze frankly, sometimes critically, institutions for which they act or have acted.
This is one of the trump cards of “Culture of Transgressions - Scenarios of Tomorrow”, the third in a series edited by the institutes Etco (of Competition Ethics) and iFHC, by the former President of the Republic Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
Five specialists -Renato Janine Ribeiro, Gilmar Mendes, Paul Singer, Marcílio Marques Moreira and Aristides Junqueira- were invited to address the challenges to overcome the culture of transgressions, as a way to guarantee a free path to the country's development.
Paul Singer talks about a problem that is possibly mentioned on another page of the Sheet today: corruption in public works. The economist, who was São Paulo's Secretary of Planning under Luiza Erundina, describes the state's effort in transparency in government procurement.
Despite this, he says, bidding is expensive, time-consuming and, in many cases, does not eliminate corruption. Current secretary of Solidarity Economy, of the Ministry of Labor, Singer admits that most deviations are only discovered when there is a complaint from those who participate. Worse, they rarely end in punishment of those involved.
The articles by the Supreme Court Minister Gilmar Mendes and the former Attorney General Aristides Junqueira seem to dialogue about the Judiciary.
Mendes also does not spare the judges from the fatigue of the prison system. Data from the CNJ (National Council of Justice), brought to light by the minister, indicate that almost half (46%) of detainees are imprisoned for provisional decisions (arrest in the act, temporary and preventive).
"By diminishing the importance of effective control over prisons, [the Judiciary] fails to fulfill elementary duties provided for by the Constitution," he writes.
Aristides Junqueira discusses impunity. It argues that many court decisions on crimes of values considered to be low absolve recognized criminals, several repeat offenders.
And it goes further. Aristides says that tax violations - even if they affect a greater number of people and represent losses for millions - often do not even lead to criminal proceedings. On the contrary, malefactors have benefits:
"Those who fail to collect due taxes may sell the products they manufacture at a lower price or even below cost, to the detriment of those who, ethically and averse to the culture of transgressions, fulfill their tax obligations".
But transgressions are not always bad. Breaking the established to allow the new to arrive is what guides the articles by the professor of ethics and political philosophy at USP Renato Janine Ribeiro and the former Minister of Finance Marcílio Marques Moreira.
In his article, Ribeiro says that the ideal solutions were in the past and that today it is possible to discuss with less passion - and from the perspective of reducing harm to the collective - themes such as the decriminalization of drugs and abortion.
Moreira defends overcoming the dusty State versus market debate in the name of a real capitalist economy, with quality services that effectively reach the poorest. Nothing more current.
CULTURE OF TRANSGRESSIONS
ORGANIZERS Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Roberto Abdenur
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Hail
HOW MUCH R $ 45 (156 pages)
EVALUATION Good
