Brazil’s Federal Sub-Comptroller General, Jorge Hage, argued for public financing of parties and electoral campaigns as a way to combat corruption in the country.
“Until this problem is well resolved in Brazil, the problem of corruption will not be resolved, because one thing is very closely tied to the other.
“All that goes on in an electoral campaign, in the financing of campaigns, will result in attempts to use the machinery of government and public funds to repay the famous, purported campaign contributions,” Hage affirmed in an interview with Brazilian government radio, Radiobrás.
Public financing of campaigns is one of the major items of the political reform that is being debated in the Constitution and Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and will be one of the prominent themes at the 4th Global Forum to Combat Corruption.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will inaugurate the event today, alongside the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Undersecretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Maria Costa, and the Federal Comptroller-General, Waldir Pires.
The forum, which is sponsored by the CGU (Federal Comptroller-General’s Office) and the UNODC and ends on Friday will gather around one hundred delegations from around the world to debate improvements in anti-corruption methods and international cooperation in this field.
Topics such as money-laundering, government contract bidding, conflicts of interests, electronic government, and participation by civil society in the fight against corruption will also be discussed.
Brazil is currently involved in several scandals involving corruption in the government.
ABr
