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1 – 10 of over 2000This article aims to advance the literature on the effects of corruption and its relationship to human rights violations. The article also presents an overview of existing…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to advance the literature on the effects of corruption and its relationship to human rights violations. The article also presents an overview of existing legislative measures as well as those expected to be implemented at the national level to tackle corruption and its impacts on fundamental rights.
Design/methodology/ approach
The study draws on the literature that addresses the relation between corruption and human rights, and analyses a single well-known case in Brazil (Operation Car Wash) in order to discuss both the violation of citizens’ political rights and of those being investigated.
Findings
The article suggests that the Brazilian State has failed to guarantee fundamental rights as well as to effectively control electoral corruption. By exploring the complex structure of illegal campaign financing in Brazil, the article exposes how Operation Car Wash evidenced the violation of both of the right to participate public affairs and to vote in authentic elections in Brazil.
Originality/value
Considering that the literature shows it is difficult to link the breaches of human rights with incidences of corruption, this article debates the macro context in which the Car Wash case is inserted and demonstrates the evidence that link the corrupt acts involved in this operation to the violation of specific fundamental human rights: the political rights.
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Maria Alice Nunes Costa, Lucia Bravo, Elaine Borin and José Eduardo Pereira Filho
This chapter discusses the Operation Lava Jato (or Operation Car Wash) which is an ongoing investigation in Brazil, since 2014, by the Federal Police and the Federal Public…
Abstract
This chapter discusses the Operation Lava Jato (or Operation Car Wash) which is an ongoing investigation in Brazil, since 2014, by the Federal Police and the Federal Public Ministry. This Operation triggered systemic and endemic corruption among companies, self-described as socially responsible, the State, and Brazilian Government. The analysis is based on empirical data available on the internet and in the Brazilian press about “Operation Car Wash” (Operation Lava Jato) and its socio-legal implications. We conclude that when a society has a historical and cultural tradition permeated by close private and patrimonial relations between government and companies, this fact negatively impacts the economic performance and the adoption of ethical behavior and social responsibility. This case study examines the recent police investigation into corruption involving companies and governments in a Latin American country. It provides empirical and historical data on the nature of the capitalism of ties model developed in Brazil that impacts on economic performance and the strategic proposal of corporate social responsibility.
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Bruno Felix, Josinea Botelho and Valcemiro Nossa
The purpose of this paper is to understand how individuals seek to reduce the occurrence of unethical requests at work and the effects of such strategies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how individuals seek to reduce the occurrence of unethical requests at work and the effects of such strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors built a grounded theory through semi-structured interviews with 65 individuals who worked for companies involved in the Brazilian corruption scandal called Operation Car Wash.
Findings
The interviewees reported that they use two central strategies to avoid unethical requests: explicit moral communication (directly stating that they are not willing to adhere to an unethical request) and implicit communication (expressing such a refusal through moral symbols). Both strategies signal the morality of the communicator and lead the possible proponent of an unethical request to perceive a greater probability of being reported and, thus, avoid making such an unethical request. However, while explicit moral communication affects the perceived morality of the individual who would possibly make an unethical request, implicit (symbolic) moral communication does not. As a consequence, the risks of retaliation for making a moral communication are greater in the case of explicit moral communication, entailing that implicit moral communication is more effective and safer for the individual who wants to avoid unethical requests.
Originality/value
This paper broadens the literature on business ethics and moral psychology by shifting its focus from what organizations and leaders can do to prevent unethical behavior to what leaders can actively do to protect themselves from unethical requests.
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Oderlene Vieira de Oliveira, Sérgio Seabra da Silveira Filho and Felipe Alexandre de Lima
The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the reflection of corruption in Brazilian companies listed on Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3). The methodological design comprised a…
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the reflection of corruption in Brazilian companies listed on Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3). The methodological design comprised a qualitative and descriptive approach in which documentary research was used to gather data. Content analysis was employed to treat data retrieved from Standard Financial Statements, Explanatory Notes, and Sustainability Reports, from 2013 to 2017. The findings reveal a low level of disclosure of the companies listed on B3 concerning the reflections of corruption. The disclosed reflections include the increase in the company's operating costs and the impact on the company's future cash flow which can be direct, such as through the reduction of revenues from canceled negotiations, or indirect, through transaction costs due to the misconduct of the company.
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Tania Barboza and Angela Da Rocha
This study aims to investigate whether firms involved in a major corruption scandal, with broad ramifications across several emerging and advanced markets, design the content of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate whether firms involved in a major corruption scandal, with broad ramifications across several emerging and advanced markets, design the content of their corporate codes of conduct to either improve corporate ethical standards and practices or merely manipulate the impression of stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts an impression management perspective. It uses content analysis techniques to examine the codes of conduct adopted by seven Brazilian engineering and construction multinationals accused of corruption. The analysis covered five major themes: (1) forms of corruption, (2) values or principles, (3) interested parties, (4) procedures and routines and (5) punitive action.
Findings
The study provides detailed evidence that the codes of conduct adopted by these firms are mere artifices that aimed at meeting legal requirements but do not target the relevant corporate audience involved in grand corruption. At best, such a code may impede petty and bureaucratic corruption.
Originality/value
This research contributes to improving the understanding of how Latin American multinationals adopted codes of conduct after a major scandal and how they failed—at least to some extent—to design codes complying with established corporate governance principles. It shows that management manipulated the impression of stakeholders by selectively adopting or omitting certain terms, examining or concealing various issues and addressing mainly petty crimes rather than grand corruption. It also identifies areas where Western ethical values conflict with established practices and cultural norms in Latin America.
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The year 2017 begins with a tentative truce between the pro-Fujimori opposition majority in Congress and the executive power led by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski; however…
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DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB217022
ISSN: 2633-304X
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Geographic
Topical
Barbara d.L. Voss, David B. Carter and Rebecca Warren
The study draws upon three accounts to examine post-truth politics and its link to accounting. In studying Petrobras, a Brazilian petrochemical company embroiled in a corruption…
Abstract
Purpose
The study draws upon three accounts to examine post-truth politics and its link to accounting. In studying Petrobras, a Brazilian petrochemical company embroiled in a corruption scandal, the authors draw upon a politics of falsity to understand how different depictions of similar events can emerge. The authors depict Petrobras' corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures during the period of corruption juxtaposed against the Brazilian Federal Police investigation (the Lava Jato/Car Wash Operation) and Petrobras' response to the allegations of institutional corruption.
Design/methodology/approach
The data set consisted of 56 Petrobras reports including Annual Reports, Financial Statements, Sustainability Reports and Form 20-Fs from 2004 to 2017, information disclosed by the Brazilian Federal Police concerning the Lava Jato Operation and media reports concerning Petrobras and the corruption scandal. The paper employs a discourse analysis approach to depict and interpret the accounts.
Findings
Through examining the connection between ontic accounts and ontological presuppositions, the authors illustrate a post-truth logic underpinning accounting, due to the interpretive, contestable and contingent nature of accounting information. Consequently, the authors turn to the “ethics of the real” as a response, as citizen subjects must be cautious in how they approach accounting and CSR disclosures.
Originality/value
Rather than relying on simplistic true/false dualities, the authors argue that the “ethics of the real” provides a courageous position for citizen subjects to interrogate the organisation by recognising the role of discourse and disclosure expectations on organisations in a post-truth environment. The study also illustrates how competing, contingent accounts of the same timeframe and events can emerge.
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Jonatas Dutra Sallaberry, Liz Spinello Quaesner, Mayla Cristina Costa and Leonardo Flach
This study aims to analyse and measure the damage caused by acts of corruption in the largest investigation in Brazil, known as the “Lava Jato” operation.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse and measure the damage caused by acts of corruption in the largest investigation in Brazil, known as the “Lava Jato” operation.
Design/methodology/approach
For the analysis of financial flows, documentary research was carried into denunciation and judicial decisions. Based on the “Follow the Money” methodology, it was possible to follow the inverse trail of money, from the indications of benefits to public agents, financial operators and fake companies up to the deviation of refinery construction.
Findings
The analysis allowed the identification of damages from acts of corruption that reached 17.8% of the value of the oil refineries built, while the benefit of the corrupting agents was 13.7% of the damage caused. The analysis shows several other characteristics of the movements and the identification strategy of financial crimes.
Research limitations/implications
Research enabled the development of a strategy to identify and measure the flow of corruption and money laundering.
Practical implications
Based on the identified financial parameters, it will be possible to estimate the damage caused by a corrupt act for a certain benefit.
Originality/value
The research identified financial parameters of damages and benefits from acts of corruption in the largest fraud that occurred in the country, which was replicated in modus operandi in several works and countries in Latin America.
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BRAZIL: Car Wash plea bargain will go ahead
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-ES217649
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
BRAZIL/US: Car Wash probes prompt record fines