“A Country’s Justice System Reflects the Quality of Its Democracy”

Eliminating corruption entirely is unrealistic, José Ugaz says, but keeping it from destroying a country remains possible. The goal, he argues, should be to contain corruption so it cannot undermine the rule of law or become a source of inequality, poverty, violence and disorder.

Ugaz describes major corruption as a crime of power involving large corporations, kleptocratic regimes and transnational criminal organizations. That combination poses a challenge to states and to the current international order. Yet he also points to global efforts involving governments, institutions and civil society groups that have managed to push back against it.

The former anti-corruption prosecutor is sharply critical of Brazil’s handling of the Lava Jato legacy. He says the Brazilian justice system has succumbed to political control and that important achievements from the investigation have been dismantled in recent months. Those cases involved judicial cooperation with other countries in the region.

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If defeating corruption means achieving zero corruption, I do not think that is realistic.

Ugaz specifically points to Dias Toffoli, whom President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appointed to Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court in 2009. He says Toffoli later overturned advances made by the Lava Jato task force, which investigated a corruption network affecting 10 Latin American countries and two African countries. According to Ugaz, the annulment of evidence has led to cases and convictions against leading Brazilian figures being shelved. Other countries that received evidence from Brazil are now using those rulings in attempts to extend impunity to their own territories.

For Ugaz, the broader issue is the independence of justice across Latin America. Countries with predictable and fair social rules can achieve basic standards of rights, shared welfare and peaceful fulfillment of material and spiritual needs. Dictatorships and kleptocracies, he says, threaten that foundation.

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What is possible is to control corruption and keep it at a level that does not make a country unviable.