Brazil’s Lula Signs Bill Making Corruption Heinous Crime

Minister Hage and president Lula Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said this Wednesday, December 9, during a ceremony commemorating the International Day Against Corruption, that is necessary to encourage people to report acts of corruption and provide protection so that citizens feel safe to report them. He signed the bill, to be sent to Congress, which makes the practice of corruption a heinous crime.

For Lula, the country has to act against corruption as a person who always visits his doctor for regular physical exams. "Corruption is like a drug. Sometimes it's inside the house and people don't know. That's why we need to act as when we do a medical check up. We must be ever more efficient to control public money. The other way is the reporting process, people must be assured they will be protected," he said.

The president also said that fighting corruption is a hard task because the corrupt person almost always has an angel face. "I think the work we are doing is like a check up. The face of the corrupt is that of an angel's face, he is the one who most speaks out against corruption, who most denounces it, because he thinks he will not be caught, that somebody else will always be blamed for it. But once in a while, the trap gets the bird. And we owe it to the institutions we create."

Lula told reporters he intends to take to the G20 [group of 20 developing countries] the bill signed today. In his view, measures like this are difficult to be implemented because they attack mainly fraud in the financial system that causes millionaire losses to several countries.

"This law may not solve the problem, but if Congress approves it, maybe we can convey the idea that there is no impunity in the country. If we do not increase the punishment for these people, we will continue filling jails with poor people," he said. "It's very strong in people's minds the idea that the guy who steals a loaf of bread goes to jail and the one who still 1 million will not be arrested."

"These people do not want to enact such laws because they prey on those who have a bullet in the chamber (those who have resources), those who have coffee in the pot," compared Lula, alluding to crimes against the financial system or to those people who evade taxes.

The president also said he'd rather have the press publishing news on cases of corruption, so they can be investigated "instead of having no news and continue to be robbed."

ABr

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil Finds New Huge Oilfield, Possibly World’s Third Largest

Brazil keeps finding huge new oil fields. The director general of Brazil's National Petroleum, ...

Gathered in Brazil Indigenous People Complain Their Concerns Are Not Being Heard

The International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) fired criticism at the 8th Conference of ...

Brazil’s Current Account Surplus Reaches US$ 4.4 Billion, a 59% Growth

The Brazilian current account surplus, which includes all operations in international trade of goods ...

In 4 Years Brazil Gets Its Old Dream Road from Sea to Shining Sea

The presidents of Peru, Bolivia and Brazil inaugurated a US$ 810 million highway project ...

Brazilian Firm Brings Extreme Sports to Cell Phone

Participants and fans of extreme sports in nearly 50 countries finally have a product ...

Brazilians Have Already Spent Close to US$ 3 Billion Overseas this Year

Brazilians expenses abroad have already totaled US$ 653 million this month of May. In ...

How Christ Met Marx in Brazil

Although Brazil has a great number of religious denominations, about seventy-five percent of its ...

Brazil: Ex-Chief Justice Assails Lula

Recently retired from the presidency of Brazil’s Supreme Court, Maurício Corrêa is pulling no ...

Brazil Strategy Network

US-Brazil Group to Focus on Civil Society in National Meeting in NY

The Brazil Strategy Network (BSN) will hold its fourth annual National Meeting on Saturday, ...

Brazilian Stocks Down on US Interest Rates Concerns

Latin American shares collectively declined alongside a depressed U.S. market. Brazilian shares ultimately soured, ...

WordPress database error: [Table './brazzil3_live/wp_wfHits' is marked as crashed and last (automatic?) repair failed]
SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `wp_wfHits`