CGU sets a historic record for anti-corruption cases in 2024 – economic crime, anti-corruption and fraud – criminal law

With 70 closed cases, Brazil’s Office of the Auditor General exceeds previous milestones and strengthens corporate integrity policies

The Office of the Comptroller General (CGU) reached a historic milestone by completing adjudication on 70 Administrative Accountability Proceedings (PARs) in 2024, surpassing the previous record of 67 PARs in 2023.

PARs are procedures that determine the liability of companies for harmful acts against public administration, as outlined in the Brazilian Anti-Corruption Law.

This new record was reached on Thursday (10) after the publication of decisions in the Federal Gazette in which four companies were held responsible for violations of the anti-corruption law. The sanctions included fines and bans on participating in public tenders or concluding contracts with public administration.

This success of the CGU reflects the consolidation of accountability mechanisms for corrupt practices, strengthening the enforcement of the anti-corruption law and the promotion of public policies on corporate integrity.

Despite rumors of a decline in Brazil’s fight against corruption in recent years, CGU’s efforts in collaboration with other regulators show the opposite: measures to prevent, detect and punish unlawful behavior have increased. In addition to the record number of PARs in 2024, the CGU initiated over 1,063 procedures between 2020 and 2023, imposed fines of more than R$ 1 billion and launched several new anti-corruption operations in 2024, including Operation Piemonte, the second phase of Operation Santa Rota, Operation Fito Fake, Operation Fiat Lux and Operation Ghost Writer.

The growth of anti-corruption efforts, particularly the CGU, can be seen in the following graphic, which illustrates the number of PARs decided annually since the anti-corruption law was passed in 2014.

To avoid liability for harmful actions towards public administration, companies in Brazil must increasingly invest and strive to implement and update their compliance programs. The importance of this initiative is underlined by the launch by the CGU of the Brazil Corporate Integrity Pact in early 2024, which already includes more than 180 Brazilian companies as signatories.

It is worth noting that the effective implementation, continuous improvement and periodic review of integrity programs are factors taken into account by the CGU when setting fines in PARs, resulting in a reduction of penalties for illegal practices under the Anti-Corruption Law by up to 5 % can lead to law.

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