Pronto! Agora já sabemos como falar ‘mensalão’ em inglês: ‘big monthly stipend’ (pronúncia: /ˈstaɪpɛnd/). Reportagem da ‘The Economist’ sobre corrupção no Brasil  apontando uma mudança de rumo na já banalizada corrupção tupiniquim. Mostra uma atuação da Corte Suprema que torna a corrupção mais arriscada (The Supreme Court makes graft riskier). Traz ainda a visão da tradicional corrupção brasileira, que não é privilégio ou exclusividade de partido X ou Y e sim algo endêmico. Agora, após a exposição de corrupção (como muitas que já ocorreram) e efetiva condenação, tanto do partido da situação como do partido da oposição, abrem-se importantes precedentes que irão, sem dúvida alguma, ser divisor de águas para os próximos pleitos. Cheers.

Corruption in Brazil

Worth the wait

The supreme court makes graft riskier

Sep 29th 2012 | SÃO PAULO | from the print edition

Blind justice at last in Brasília

A HUSBAND follows his wife and another man to a hotel room. Through the keyhole he sees the pair embrace. As they fling off their clothes his wife’s underwear catches on the doorknob, blocking his view of what happens next—and leaving his faith in her fidelity intact.

Brazilians tell this tale to describe the naivety of the cuckold who is unwilling to make obvious inferences that lead to unwelcome conclusions. It could also stand for their legal system’s traditional leniency towards politicians accused of corruption. The slightest ambiguity in overwhelming evidence lets wrongdoers walk free.

Until now: in recent weeks Brazil has been transfixed by the sight of its most senior judges on live television, sweeping aside legal manoeuvres in what has become known as the “trial of the century”. The mensalão (“big monthly stipend”) scandal erupted in 2005 when a politician claimed that the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) was buying his and other politicians’ votes in Congress. The cash was alleged to have come from fraudulent loans at state banks and padded advertising contracts arranged by state-controlled firms.

http://www.economist.com/node/21563734?fsrc=nlw|pub|10-12-2012|3756115|37938813|