According to Vinícius Marques Carvalho, when corruption involves United States companies operating outside the borders, the charge loses strength
Amid recommendations for a new round of tax increases for Brazil by the United States and accusations that the country is not fulfilling its role in combating corruption, the Minister of the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), Vinícius Marques Carvalho, took to social media to compare American supervisory actions in relation to his companies.
He stated that “there is a contradiction that is difficult to ignore in the investigation opened by the United States against Brazil” and that the rigor demanded here does not seem to apply with the same intensity to local companies. “What should be a principle becomes a convenience. What should strengthen institutions becomes a tool for external pressure”, he wrote in X.
Carvalho highlighted that the speech used to pressure the country talks about combating corruption. “But this same speech appears at a time when the United States government reduces the priority of applying the FCPA, a law created to punish American companies that corrupt public officials in other countries”, he posted, citing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
According to the minister, When corruption involves United States companies operating across borders, the charge loses strength. He also wrote that, when it involves putting pressure on a sovereign country, the fight against corruption becomes a geopolitical instrument.
“In the Brazilian case, the contradiction is even more serious because this offensive had the support and provocation of the Bolsonaro family, which is once again betting on taking domestic disputes to Washington and transforming internal political differences into attacks on national sovereignty”, he attacked.
Brazil, according to Carvalho, continues to apply the Anti-Corruption Law with vigor. And he presented numbers: since 2013, Law No. 12,846 allowed the initiation of more than 2,200 processes to hold companies accountable, the application of around R$2.1 billion in fines and the signing of 36 leniency agreements, with return commitments exceeding R$20.1 billion. More than R$11.3 billion has already returned to public coffers.
“Recent actions also show a State that is more capable of investigating and preventing irregularities”he stated, informing that, in 2025, the CGU alone participated in 76 operations with the Federal Police, which identified more than R$13.6 billion in potential losses to criminal groups. He mentioned that audits corrected billion-dollar distortions in social programs, operations dismantled criminal networks and intelligence tools prevented losses before they happened.
“Brazil is not backing down in the fight against corruption. It is strengthening institutions, increasing transparency and applying the law. The difference is that it does this within democracy, with sovereignty and without turning the anti-corruption agenda into a weapon against other countries.”
Carvalho continued, saying that the best response to hypocrisy is practice. “And practice shows that the Brazilian government, under the leadership of President Lula, investigates, holds accountable, recovers public resources and combats corruption without giving up national interests”, he concluded.
