On Thursday, Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court ruled that it is constitutional for financial control agencies—such as the Federal Revenue Service and Central Bank—to share confidential data of taxpayers with criminal authorities with a view to launching investigations.
The decision was made on the basis that this sharing of information does not violate confidentiality, as all the parties involved have an obligation to protect the privacy of the data analyzed and disclosed. This argument was first issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
This opinion—agreed with by seven other members of the court—declares that corruption, organized crime and money laundering benefit from bureaucracy, and investigative agencies have the obligation to uphold the confidentiality of the data used in these probes.
The rapporteur of the case, Chief Justice Dias Toffoli, was overruled. His argument was that the sharing of data without a court order should be limited to more generic information that...
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