Brazil government dismissed 251 civil servants for corruption

The Ministry of Transparency, Oversight, and Control reported this Friday (Jul. 15) that 251 civil servants were dismissed in the first half of 2016 for engaging in activities against the law under the legal regime for civil servants of the federal government.

In total, 203 effective servants were dismissed, 29 pensions were revoked, and 19 servants were removed from positions of trust. Data have not included employees from state-led companies, such as Petrobras, Banco do Brasil and Brazil's Post Office.

According to the ministry, the main reason for the dismissals was the engagement in activities related to corruption, reaching 64.5% of the total. It was followed by job abandonment, absenteeism or illegal accumulation of public offices. Also among the reasons for the dismissal were servants' inadequate performance of their functions (negligence) and being responsible for management or administration of private companies, which is prohibited by the civil servants' law.

According to the Ministry of Transparency, Oversight, and Control, the servants punished under the Clean Record Act (Lei da Ficha Limpa) are ineligible for eight years. Depending on the type of the offense committed, they may also be prevented from holding any public office.

Since 2003, the Brazilian federal government has dismissed 5,910 civil servants.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta