Inside the Car Wash: The Narrative of a Corruption Scandal in Brazil (original) (raw)

In March 2014 a corruption scandal emerged in Brazil with unprecedented political and judicial repercussions. Dubbed the ‘Car Wash’ (Lava Jato in Portuguese), the investigation has uncovered large-scale bribery, kickbacks, and money laundering involving the state-run oil company Petrobras. This paper looks in depth at the mechanics involved in the corruption flows, presenting a theoretical model to discuss the links between campaign finance, state capture, political exploitation, and overcharged public contracts channelled back to campaigns, politicians, parties and senior bureaucrats. Although dozens of high profile politicians and businessmen have now been jailed, one of the major repercussions of this investigation is the Brazilian Supreme Court decision to ban corporate donations to electoral campaigns. Using analytical narrative based on secondary data analysis, such as campaign finance records, government payments orders, and police and prosecutors’ reports, this paper also qu...