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The World Bank Legal Review
forefront of the fight against corruption in Brazil. Hence there are innovative prerogatives46 for Brazilian public prosecutors. In terms of implementing the Anticorruption Law under the constitutional rules, the Ministério Público faces two challenges: to investigate and curb corporate corruption, and to articulate the clockwork of Anticorruption Law implementation in order to develop and disseminate policies and good practices among the different federal entities. According to Article 19 of the law, the Ministério Público, like the union, the states, the Federal District, and the municipalities, is entitled to file lawsuits against legal entities that have engaged in corrupt acts. Acting as a law enforcement authority on administrative, civil, and criminal law, the Ministério Público investigates and files civil and criminal actions. It is also one of the institutions entitled to file public civil actions, but recent studies have shown that it files a greater number of actions than other co-legitimates. This extensive experience with criminal and administrative improbity investigations demonstrates that the Ministério Público has a more robust and suitable background to deal with such ma ers47 compared with other colegitimates. Apart from this, the extensive reach and influence48 of the Ministério Público, being an institution that has a presence in all federation entities, is well posited to strategically and effectively carry out its mission, which is to improve effective cooperation among federal agencies, organizations, and entities that have a role in combating and minimizing corruption in Brazil. If, on the one hand, the federalist model leads to uncoordinated authorities, each applying the law as it sees fit, the Ministério Público on the other hand, works closely with municipalities’ ma ers to avoid dispersed efforts against corruption. It is clear that the work done by the Ministério Público on a domestic scale has a positive effect on coordinating anticorruption initiatives at the local, regional, and national levels. But what if the local authority does nothing about corporate bribery that takes place in a state or municipal public procurement? The Ministério Público can do something about it, because it is empowered by the constitution to make individuals and legal entities accountable for their actions.
46
The Ministério Público in Brazil upholds a prerogative based on administrative and political autonomy, an autonomous budgetary initiative, and functional independence (arts. 127 and 128 of the Brazilian Const.).
47
Among all institutions with legal standing, the Ministério Público filed about 95 percent of civil lawsuits to protect collective rights. See RT informa, 6(37) Editora Revista dos Tribunais 5 (May–June 2005).
48
According to a 2012 publication produced by the National Council of the Public Prosecutor (Conselho Nacional do Ministério Público; CNMP), there were 10,663 public prosecutors in Brazil and 34,954 Ministério Público clerks and interns spread throughout the Brazilian states and municipalities. See CNMP, Ministério Público: Um retrato—ano 2: Dados de 2012 45 (CNMP 2013).