Suggested citation: De Figueiredo, Fernanda Odilla. (2015), ‘Suit up to go to Jail How the Multi‐Institutional Approach Against Corruption can Work in Brazil’ in Dialogue King’s College London Politics Society. Issue 11, Spring 2015. Available on http://issuu.com/kcldialogue/docs/issue_11_online Suit up to go to Jail How the Multi‐Institutional Approach Against Corruption can Work in Brazil by Fernanda Odilla V. de Figueiredo* In November 2014, a Brazilian executive was pictured wearing an elegant suit jacket while pushing his expensive suitcase. It was not a business trip nor a holiday, as the photo might suggest at first glance. The man suited up to go to jail. He and another two dozen executives from Brazil’s six largest construction firms were arrested on corruption charges. They were accused of bribing former managers of Petrobras, the giant state‐controlled oil company, and signing fraudulent contracts designed to funnel money to politicians. Although corruption scandals like this can be very familiar to Latin Americans, this new group of inmates is part of an unprecedented change in Brazil. In what is a rare case of effective cooperation between the Federal Police, the Federal prosecution service and the judiciary, Brazil has witnessed an impressive bribery and kickback investigation dubbed “Car Wash” (Lava Jato in Portuguese) 1 . The scandal has made newspaper headlines every single day since March 2014, when the police made the first arrests. The investigation has already identified 10 billion reais ($3.7 billion) of suspicious payments, 30 people have been indicted, and around 40 politicians are about to be investigated by the Supreme Court 2 , making the petrolão (the “big oily”) Brazil’s biggest corruption scandal until now. Unfortunately, nobody can guarantee that there are not worse cases waiting to be 'discovered'. Brazil has long faced widespread corruption scandals at all levels and in all branches of the political system. Accusations of corruption, including bribery, improper use of public funds and of public office as well as vote buying have tarnished all six presidential administrations since democracy was restored in 1985, following 21 years of military rule. The media has revealed most of the scandals, but few politicians have been convicted in court or sanctioned by the institutions they worked for. Thirty years after democratisation, Brazil is still trying to find ways to increase transparency and accountability, with a range of different laws and internal procedures. In this crusade, the country has been tackling corruption through an accountability system built up through institutional multiplicity. Different public agencies in the Federal sphere perform three primary as well as complementary/compensatory checks and balances mechanisms: oversight, investigation and punishment. The Federal Accounting Tribunal (Tribunal de Contas da União, or TCU) and the Office of the Comptroller General of the Union (Controladoria‐Geral da União, or CGU) manage