"Although photography is ugly, the film is good," said Minister Roberto Barroso of the Supreme Court (STF), referring to the Brazilian political scenario. The phrase was said in the inaugural lecture of the seminar Compliance Programs: Instrument to encourage transparency, governance and the fight against corruption.
The event, which is promoted by the National School of Training and Improvement of Magistrates (Enfam), in partnership with the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) and the Fundação Getúlio Vargas Projects (FGV Projects), takes place throughout Thursday (26) in the auditorium of the STJ, in Brasilia.
The aim of the seminar is to discuss integrity programs and the fight against corruption, as well as its importance in state governance. "The programs of compliance they are composed of routines and practices designed to prevent risks of corporate responsibility arising from non-compliance with legal or regulatory obligations in addition to traditional sanctioning policies, which are based on the implementation of a sentence corresponding to the illicit practice," explained Minister Villas Bôas Cueva, scientific coordinator of the event alongside Professor Ana Frazão, from the University of Brasília (UnB).
According to the minister, compliance they turn to a change of behavior through standards of conduct to be observed and monitored by companies, administrators and employees in order to avoid committing the illicit.
Transparency
"The theme is instigating, current and, above all, indispensable to the clean country," said Minister Laurita Vaz, president of the STJ, during the opening ceremony. According to her, both in the corporate and financial markets, the implementation of compliance, as a strategic management tool, help fight corruption, in addition to improving governance and ensuring transparency, which "provides a solid basis for economic development".
For Minister Luis Felipe Solomon, who participated as president of the first panel, the event will enable a reflection on postures in the public and private field, old and current practices: "A real tank of ideas, a real proposal plant, which I am sure will be a milestone in this theme and in this special moment that Brazilian society lives."
Negative photograph
Minister Barroso’s inaugural talk was the theme Democracy, corruption and justice. In describing the current scenario of Brazilian politics, he recognized that, in a first analysis, "photography is negatively impressive".
"A president of the Republic who was twice denounced by the Attorney General of the Republic, one for passive corruption and the other for obstruction of justice. There's a former president of the Republic convicted in the first degree. There is another former president of the Republic already denounced before the Supreme Court for passive corruption; two former heads of the Civil House have already been convicted, one in the first degree and the other in the second degree, for active corruption and the other for passive corruption; a former head of the government secretariat of the presidency of the Republic is arrested preventively because supposedly it would have been found in his apartment the bagatela de R$ 50 million; two former mayors of the House of Representatives are currently under arrest; several state governors are currently responding to criminal proceedings, some prisoners. All the advisers of the Court of Auditors of a state, except one, were arrested preventively by determination of the STJ; the award-winning denunciation of Odebrecht made mention of 415 politicians from 26 parties, the award-winning collaboration of JBS involved 1,829 politicians from 28 parties. This is the photograph of the current Brazilian moment, without any value judgment," the minister said.
"An amazing episode of widespread corruption," Barroso acknowledged. However, for the minister, "film is good" because society has reacted and the country is experiencing a moment of change in attitude, changes in legislation and jurisprudence that, although slow, are progressive.
Point to point
" I think that the change in attitude begins with Criminal Action 470, known as Monthly, when, pushed by society, the Supreme Court for the first time in the history of Brazil, this is the harsh truth, punished a relevant set of people for crimes such as active corruption, passive corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, fraudulent management of financial distribution. There was an emblematic mark of change of attitude," the minister said.
Regarding the change in legislation, Barroso cited the promulgation of the law on crimes against the financial system and against the tax order, the worsening of the penalty for active and passive corruption, the money laundering law, the law defining criminal organizations, the anti-corruption law and the clean record law.
In the case-law, Barroso cited as the most important change in dealing with corruption the recognition by the Supreme Court that it is possible to execute condemnatory decisions after the second degree trial.
" It was the most important measure that was taken in Brazil, because the previous requirement of the transit on trial was that it made it impossible to execute any penalty for white collar crime. With procrastinal resources it was postponed in ten, 12, 15, 25 years the execution of decisions, until the prescription," he explained.
For him, "the seed has already been planted, hearts and minds have already been conquered", but "who was waiting for the knockout will not watch, because the fight is point to point".
Other debates
During the day, discussions are still planned on programs to combat corruption, state governance, as well as debates on the view of the academia and the market on compliance.
STJ SOURCE
