Brazil's FBI takes on corrupt bigwigs

The increasingly aggressive approach of the Federal Police – combined with the diligent efforts of prosecutors – are still only small steps on the road to a more just society.

Although more than 5,000 people have been detained in Federal Police raids over the last five years, only a tiny fraction of them were actually tried and sentenced. All 48 people arrested in Operation Razor have been released, according to a Federal Police spokesman.

Those numbers discourage jurists, who say the lack of follow-through on prosecuting high-level suspects perpetuates the sense of impunity as well as the widespread belief that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor, a belief strengthened by a law stating that inmates with a university degree need not share cells with less-educated prisoners.

On the flip side, the lack of convictions leaves the Federal Police open to accusations that they are abusing their power by arresting so many. The recent spate of raids was criticized by politicians who fear persecution by influential rivals, and they were classed as "legal terrorism" by a leading group of judges.

Perhaps with that in mind, the justice ministry last week created a commission designed to examine the agency's recent performance and possibly curb its powers to arrest suspects.

Recent raids are popular

Many people, however, have welcomed the agency's vigorous action as a refreshing sign that things are changing. Even the president, after backing his brother's efforts to be exonerated of the accusations, lauded the Federal Police for "carrying out an exemplary role."

Anticorruption campaigners are now watching to see if other governmental bodies follow the Federal Police agency's lead.

Early signs are not good, they say, especially in the country's notoriously corrupt Congress. One bill under consideration would cut to two days from five days the time period allowed for contesting the results of government contracts. That would make it harder for anyone suspecting wrongdoing to protest.

Another bill would make it easier for deputies to tack pork-barrel projects onto laws. And a constitutional amendment that passed the committee stage in the lower house earlier this month gives the government more leeway to default on debt, thus increasing the chance of under-the-table deals being made between creditors and authorities.

"These things are putting citizens at the mercy of the government and they create an imbalance of power," says Eduardo Capobianco, president of the Brazilian chapter of the antigraft watchdog Transparency International. "They create conditions for all kinds of corruption. Combating corruption implies restricting those in power."

In Brazil, those restrictions, where they exist, are often ignored. Which means that the onus will remain on the police and the review bodies.

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