OECD hails Brazil’s anti-bribery progress, but “problems” remain

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is more confident about Brazil’s ability to continue fighting corruption. However, the good impression left by Brazilian authorities after a meeting in Brasília was not enough to diminish all of the anti-bribery committee’s concerns. For the group’s president, in spite of the readiness demonstrated by the Executive, the ball is now in the Supreme Court’s hands.

The OECD’s Working Group on Bribery made an emergency trip to Brasília on November 12–13. As we explained in our October 23 story, the trip was to address concerns sparked by Supreme Court decisions to limit the use of financial reports from the money laundering enforcement agency, tax authorities and other administrative agencies in criminal investigations, as well as the Abuse of Authority Law. 

According to group chairman Drago Kos, their level of optimism with Brazil grew after the visit, after they saw “a lot of readiness to fight corruption in the Executive branch of power”. However, he told The Brazilian Report that “some objective problems make the fight against corruption a bit more difficult and we suggested that our counterparts in Brazil find solutions to these.”

Understanding each case

The OECD is particularly worried about the Abuse of Authority law, which will take force in January 2020....