Why congressional investigation committees are important again

For years, parliamentary investigation committees (CPI) were political instruments feared by governments. In the early 1990s, the Fernando Collor administration began to crumble once corruption revelations came to light in a CPI to investigate his campaign treasurer. Years later, another such CPI—investigating fraud in the federal budget—led to the impeachment of six lawmakers. In 2005 and 2006, another committee exposed a bribery scheme within the Lula administration—nearly bringing down his government.

With time, however, CPIs have evolved into a spectacle more aimed at impressing voters and airing dirty laundry in public, rather than serious investigations. As Euan Marshall wrote in February, “the bark of a CPI is, more often than not, much worse than its bite.”

That has to do with the falling quality of public debate in Brazil, but also with the increasing role of other accountability institutions, such as the Federal Police, Federal Prosecution Office, Federal Revenue Service, and the money laundering enforcement agency (Coaf). 

But now, under Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, the CPI is regaining prominence.

This change is partially due to the sitting administration’s efforts to deplete accountability agencies and hinder their operations. Mr. Bolsonaro has essentially neutered Coaf (ordering an overhaul of its members), he is trying to interfere with the workings of the Federal Police, and has named a prosecutor general who has promised to act more as a sycophant than an independent investigator.

The resurgence of the CPI also comes down to Mr. Bolsonaro’s struggles to build a working coalition in Congress. His anti-politics stance has been an invitation for the Legislature to take a more prominent role, imposing its agenda on the government, rather than acting as a glorified annex of the presidential palace, as was...