Federal Police folds dedicated investigative teams into broader division

Brazil's Federal Police reported Thursday (July 6) that its commissioners assigned to the task force dedicated to the Operation Car Wash corruption investigations in Paraná will be reincorporated into the anti-corruption and embezzlement enforcement division, which means they will no longer focus exclusively on the Car Wash case.

Tthe decision also applies to the work group dedicated to Operation Weak Flesh in the state, a an investigation into a fraud scheme to sell tampered food without proper inspection.

Federal Police said the reincorporation of the focus groups into the broader anti-corruption division was a move to “give even higher priority to investigations [on cases] with greater treasury hurting potential, which will enable an increase in personnel specializing in anti-corruption and anti-embezzlement enforcement and make it easier to pool information.”

“Under the new work arrangement, none of the police comissioners working on Car Wash will have their workload increased—rather, it will decrease with the addition of new police authorities,” a Federal Police statement read. It said the decision to fold the groups back into a broader division emanated from Igor Romário de Paula, a regional commissioner on anti-organized crime enforcement who coordinates Operation Car Wash in Paraná state, and confirmed by Rosalvo Franco, the regional superintendent.

Criticism

The shutdown of the work groups—particularly the Car Wash one—drew criticism of Federal Police and the government. In his personal account on social media, Federal Prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima, who is a member of the Car Wash investigative task force in Curitiba, said the operation “has ceased to exist.” According to him, the funding is insufficient to “bring in more commissioners” to boost the investigations, just as it is insufficient to continue issuing passports.

“Politicians seeking to stifle investigations. We must be careful or Brazil will end up like Italy, where it's much more difficult to investigate and punish someone for corruption now than it was before Mani Pulite,” the prosecutor wrote referring to the massive Italian corruption operation launched in 1992. Mani Pulite took hundreds of people to jail, including many politicians, and was inspiring for Car Wash members.

According to the national association of federal police commissioners, there have been no new hires for three years. In the latest recruitment (through civil service examinations) in 2012, 120 of the 150 successful candidates were hired for open positions. The association has declined to comment on the Federal Police's decision to close down work groups.

In its statement, Federal Police maintained the size of the personnel in Paraná is proportionate to the demand and may get reinforcements if required; moreover, the new pattern is already adopted by other superintendencies that investigate cases related to spin-off cases from Operation Car Wash, including those in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and the Federal District.

Translated by Mayra Borges