Two years on from Odebrecht: What progress has been made?

Following on from the 2017 event, on Wednesday 19 June Canning House invited a panel of experts to assess what progress has been made to tackle corruption since the revelations in December 2016 that the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht had bribed public officials across Latin America over a decade to secure contracts.

The audience heard from Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, Foundation for the Global Compact, Emma Campos-Redman, Independent Political Risk Analyst - Latin America & author of the latest Canning Paper, and Fabiano Angélico, Senior Consultant at Transparency International Brazil.  The discussion was chaired by Cristina Cortes, Canning House CEO.

Emma presented some of the findings in the latest Canning Paper, observing that despite the progress made over the last two years, the region still has a long way to go, as without effective implementation even the best anti-corruption legal and institutional frameworks will fail to increase transparency and accountability. 

Sir Mark gave insights into some of the measures that have been taken by Odebrecht since 2016 to improve transparency, noting that while change has been slow, it has been thorough. 

Finally, Fabiano joined the event remotely from his base in São Paulo, elaborating on some of the policy recommendations put forward by Transparency International in the comprehensive 600-page document Novas medidas contra a corrupção. Fabiano stressed that central to tackling corruption is a concerted effort to reduce inequality across the region. 

The audience asked questions about what role the private sector can play in helping governments improve transparency, why auditors were not faster to unearth a corruption scandal of the scale and reach of Odebrecht, what role corruption plays in facilitating criminal organsations, among others. 

More information on the next event in the Transparency & Corruption with The Institute of Business Ethics coming soon.