The United Nations will make use of Brazil’s experience in fighting municipal corruption as an example to be adopted by the international community.
In the view of the representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Brazil, Giovanni Quaglia, the initiative of the Federal Inspector-General’s Office (CGU) in selecting at random the municipalities to be audited is very constructive.
Next June, Brazil will host the 4th International Forum on Corruption, and the Brazilian experience will be presented to the international community.
“Our intention is to present this Brazilian experience as a good international procedure for municipal inspection,” Quaglia emphasized.
Municipalities from all Brazilian states are chosen at random for special audit by the CGU on their application of federal government resources.
The UN representative recalled, however, that, although the war on corruption in the country has made substantial progress, it still needs to be reinforced, especially in the matter of recovering government funds that have been misappropriated.
According to CGU estimates, only 1% of the money misapproriated through schemes of corruption returns to the public coffers.
“It is necessary to recovery the money, because it represents public funds that can be used for investments in the areas of health, education, and safety. If the money is not recovered, investments that are so necessary to a country like Brazil cannot be made,” Quaglia explains.
The federal government created the Council on Public Transparency and the War on Corruption for the purpose of uniting representatives of the government and civil society in a deliberative body.
The Council is scheduled to meet on November 17 to discuss its action strategy.
According to the Minister of Control and Transparency, Waldir Pires, the Council is a “body for thinking about and formulating strategies and methods to combat corruption, an organ of collective deliberation.”
The Council was created this year by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein
