Brazil's new prosecutor-general warns about evils of corruption

Raquel Dodge took office today (Sep. 18) as Brazil's prosecutor-general and chairwoman of the National Prosecution Service Council. Her inauguration was signed by President Michel Temer during a ceremony in Brasília. She is the first woman to occupy these posts.

After swearing her in, Temer stressed the importance of harmony between the three branches, cautioning that, even though the three branches are mentioned in the constitution (the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary), there is no doubt that the Prosecution Service also has all the characteristics of a state branch.

In her address, Dodge said that the Prosecution Service has “the duty of demanding from those administering public spending that they do their job in an honest, efficient, and virtuous enough manner to restore the confidence of people in institutions of governance.”

As for corruption—a topic that has brought the work of the Prosecution Service to the headlines of Brazilian newspapers and TV—she mentioned a statement by Pope Francis, in which he declares that “corruption is not an act, but a condition—a personal and social state people grow accustomed to living in.”

“Corrupt individuals are so closed and satisfied in feeding their self-sufficiency that they won't be questioned by anything or anyone. They base their self-esteem on fraudulent attitudes and spend their lives looking for the shortcuts of opportunism, at the expense of their own dignity and that of others. Corruption undermines the shame that protects truth, kindness, and beauty,” she said.

A member of the Federal Prosecution Service since 1987, Dodge was appointed for the three-name list submitted to the president after the vote held by the National Association of Federal Prosecutors, where she was the second most voted for. Dodge is replacing Rodrigo Janot, who filed 66 requests for inquiries in his second tenure, from 2015 to 2017—the period comprising the probes conducted under Operation Car Wash—two of which targeting President Michel Temer.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira