TO “ERADICATE CORRUPTION FROM PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION”: THE INSTITUTIONAL SELFPERCEPTION OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION AND THE CASE OF CAR WASH OPERATION

Abstract

This article looks at the institutional evolution of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, with special attention to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), from the period of democratization to its rise as a central player in the fight against corruption. Its object is more precisely the self-image of MPF prosecutors about this trajectory as well as about Car Wash Operation and its consequences. The article is the result of a qualitative study based on documentation, court rulings and indepth semi-structured interviews with 50 prosecutors working on anti-corruption operations, including Lava Jato in Brasília, at the Court of the 1st Region and at the Attorney General’s Office. The findings of the research focus on the main determinants that made Lava Jato possible, in other words, its internal and external constraints on the MPF. The article concludes by arguing that the problems encountered in Lava Jato and the backlash suffered by the operation do not result in the formulation of a self-criticism within the institution. Instead, the problems were once again framed in an institutional self-understanding based on the idea of the MP as a body dedicated to fighting corruption.