Prevenção contra a corrupção nas organizações: um estudo das fragilidades e antecedentes da corrupção no caso Odebrecht

Abstract

Corporate crimes have been a commonplace in our contemporary society. Among the most debated corporate crimes are the so-called corruption crimes. It is understood that corruption is a complex phenomenon, which can be analyzed from multiple perspectives. Regardless of the fact that there is no legal concept of what corruption actually consists of, there seems to be a strong consensus that it is an act fraught with great harm. It is even admitted that corruption is a phenomenon capable of influencing even the economic-social development of an entire country. In Brazil, one of the largest corruption scandals came to public in 2014 with an investigation conducted by Federal Police called Lava Jato Operation. This crime is a money laundering scheme - known as "Petrolão" - which includes payment of bribes and overbilling of construction works. The misappropriations were made by contractors that fraudulently bid and close contracts with Petrobras, for amounts higher than those actually collected. In a context of denouncing organizations for their illegal and criminal practices, the discussion about how to control and inhibit corporate crimes through compliance techniques has been gaining prominence in the academic and business spheres. In order to contribute to this debate, this study aims to identify antecedents and weaknesses in the prevention of crimes of corruption, so that companies can ensure compliance with the anti-corruption law and its corporate activities. For this, the case of a company accused of corruption in Brazil, Odebretch, is analyzed for its notoriety in the news and discussions in the society, besides its involvement in the Lava Jato operation. The method adopted is documentary research and the technical procedure is the analysis of published documents about the case under study. For the empirical material, the content analysis was used. The results reveal that the background and weaknesses that favored corruption crimes by Odebrecht are related to external and internal factors. Among the external factors are the legal framework, the precariousness in the control of public administration, the characteristics of the industry, political interference and previous violations. Regarding to internal factors, we can highlight the culture of corruption, the organizational structure and the size of the company. As a practical contribution, considering one of the master lines of the Professional Master's Program in Organizational Management, it is presented a proposal for a Compliance program.