Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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Operation Car Wash: Is this the biggest corruption scandal in history?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... in-history


Launched in March 2014, the operation had initially focused on agents known as doleiros (black market money dealers), who used small businesses, such as petrol stations and car washes, to launder the profits of crime. But police soon realised they were on to something bigger when they discovered that the doleiros were working on behalf of an executive at Petrobras, Paulo Roberto Costa, the director of refining and supply. This link led prosecutors to uncover a vast and extraordinarily intricate web of corruption. Under questioning, Costa described how he, Cerveró and other Petrobras directors had been deliberately overpaying on contracts with various companies for office construction, drilling rigs, refineries and exploration vessels. The contractors they were paying had formed an agreement to ensure they were guaranteed business on excessively lucrative terms if they agreed to channel a share of between 1% and 5% of every deal into secret slush funds...

...After diverting millions of dollars into those funds, Petrobras directors then used them to funnel money to the politicians who had appointed them in the first place, and to the political parties they represented. The main objective of the racket – which fleeced taxpayers and shareholders out of billions of dollars – was to fund election campaigns to keep the governing coalition in power. But it wasn’t just politicians who benefited. Everyone connected to the deals received a bribe, in cash, or sometimes in the form of luxury cars, expensive art works, Rolex watches, $3,000 bottles of wine, yachts and helicopters. Huge sums were deposited in Swiss bank accounts, or laundered via overseas property deals or smaller companies. The means of transfer were deliberately complicated, in order to hide the money’s origins, or low-tech, to keep it off the books. Prosecutors discovered that elderly mules were flying from city to city with shrink-wrapped bricks of cash strapped to their bodies.

Petrobras was no ordinary company. As well as having the highest market valuation (and the largest debts) of any corporation in Latin America, it was a flagship for an emerging economy that was trying to tap the biggest oil discovery of the 21st century – huge new oil fields in deep waters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Petrobras accounted for more than an eighth of all investments in Brazil, providing hundreds of thousands of jobs in construction firms, shipyards and refineries, and forming business ties with international suppliers including Rolls-Royce and Samsung Heavy Industries.
First, though, investigators had to get executives to talk. Until very recently, that would have been unthinkable. A culture of impunity had long reigned in Brazil. But times were changing, as Petrobras executive Nestor Cerverò was about to find out. When he saw the state of the mattress in the airport detention centre, he threw a tantrum. “How am I going to lie on this?” he said.

“It’s either that or sleep standing up,” Ishii replied. Within an hour, Cerverò had dozed off, only to be shaken out of his slumber at 6am.

“Where’s my breakfast?” he demanded.

“You’re not getting one,” Ishii answered. “I’m taking you to Curitiba.”
Without one simple reform, however, the investigation might never have taken off. Dilma Rousseff took over from Lula as leader of the Workers’ Party and became president of a coalition government after the 2010 election. In the wake of nationwide anti-corruption demonstrations in 2013, Rousseff had tried to placate an angry public by fast-tracking laws aimed at rooting out systemic fraud. New measures included, for the first time in Brazil, plea bargaining: prosecutors could now make deals with suspects, reducing their sentences in return for information that could lead to the arrest of more important figures.

Overseeing the case in Curitiba was Sérgio Moro, an ambitious young judge who helped prosecutors put pressure on suspects by approving lengthy “preventive detentions”. In the overwhelming majority of cases, Brazilian prisoners remanded in custody before trial are poor. Moro took the unusual step of also denying bail to the rich. Ostensibly, he did so to stop them using economic or political influence to escape any charges against them. However, the pressure was on them: make a deal or stay in jail.

Cerveró was not the first to face this choice. He joined a parade of VIP Car Wash suspects – corporate executives, wealthy entrepreneurs and, later, even one or two powerful politicians – who spent months inside the Curitiba detention centre. They had to be kept separate from other inmates for their own safety, which meant their side of the jail quickly became overcrowded. Having lived in luxury, these super-rich prisoners were squeezed three to a one-man cell. Their new circumstances came as a shock. “One guy did not know how to shave because he had always had it done for him,” said a guard, who asked to remain anonymous. Cerveró apparently had serious problems adapting. His cellmates complained that he urinated on them in the night and washed his backside in the sink.

If inmates refused to cooperate with the prosecution, privileges such as TV and exercise were withdrawn. “Many suspects made deals after a visit from their loved ones,” said the guard. “I think it was because they smelled the perfume and soap of the lives they had left behind.” Some resisted for months, others just days. But almost all of them broke in the end.
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Re: Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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This has nothing to do with Cambodia and should be moved. The OP can never be bothered to write anything of substance, he just copy & pastes articles with no context. Who the hell can be even bothered to read that without at least a short summary at the start?
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Re: Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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Defence lawyers complained, with some justification, that these tactics were legally dubious and unethical, because defendants would say or do anything to get out of jail. But polls indicated the public was delighted that the age-old problem of corruption was finally being exposed in a major nationwide operation. Almost every day, details of a dawn raid by police or another shocking allegation were splashed across the front pages: more than $2bn siphoned off Petrobras in bribes and secret payments for contract work, $3.3bn paid in bribes by the construction firm Odebrecht, more than 1,000 politicians on the take from the meat-packing firm JBS, 16 companies implicated, at least 50 congressmen accused, four former presidents under investigation.

As the staggering scale of the skulduggery emerged, many Brazilians focused their fury on politicians – initially Lula, Rousseff and others in the Workers’ Party. The newspapers trumpeted the message that the dirty socialists in Brasilia were wholly responsible for the problem. The reality was considerably less clear-cut. Just about every major party was involved in multiple, interconnected trails of corruption going back to earlier governments. And it was the Workers’ Party that had put in place the judicial reforms that allowed the investigation to go ahead. There would have been no Car Wash if the government had not appointed, in September 2013, an independent attorney general.
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Re: Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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Garzón came to international attention on 10 October 1998 when he issued an international warrant for the arrest of former Chilean President, General Augusto Pinochet, for the alleged deaths and torture of Spanish citizens. Although the British government refused to extradite Pinochet, it was the first time that a former head of government had been arrested on the principle of universal jurisdiction.

Garzón has been prevented from working as a judge in Spain since May 2010. His initial suspension was the result of legal action initiated by Manos Limpias, a rightist union headed by Miguel Bernard Remón, a former leader of Fuerza Nueva, a pro-Francoist political party. Although he was suspended from judicial activity in Spain pending trial in respect of a charge relating to his investigation of Francoist crimes, he was awarded the René Cassin Prize by the French organization Jeune République with the support of the International Criminal Court and Amnesty International and as a consequence given permission to work as a legal adviser at the International Criminal Court in The Hague from May 2010.

In 2012 the Supreme Court of Spain considered three charges against Garzón. They found against him in relation to one of the charges, that relating to his investigation of the corrupt, money-laundering "Gurtel" network. On 9 February 2012 the Supreme Court convicted him of illegally wiretapping conversations between suspects (on remand in connection with inquiries into "Gurtel") and their lawyers who were believed to be moving their money beyond the reach of the court. The trial judge described this act as appropriate to a dictatorship and sentenced him to eleven years disqualification from judicial activity. The Court did not find against him in the other two cases:

On 12 February, a charge against Garzón relating to his relationship with a bank was abandoned on a technicality.
On 27 February 2012 he was cleared of abusing his powers in investigating the crimes of the Francoist era (the charge which had resulted in his first suspension in 2010).

Garzón has stated that he will appeal to the Constitutional Court of Spain against his expulsion from the judiciary.
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Re: Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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The function of the federal Judiciary Power is to guarantee individual, collective and social rights and resolve conflicts between citizens, entities and the State. For this reason, its financial and administrative autonomy are guaranteed by the federal Constitution.

The organs of the Judiciary Power are the Supremo Tribunal Federal – Federal Supreme Court (STF), the Superior Tribunal de Justiça – Superior Court of Justice (STJ), as well as the Tribunais Regionais Federais – Regional Federal Courts (TRF), the Labor Courts and judges, the Electoral Courts and judges, the Military Courts and judges, and the State, Federal District, and Territory Courts and judges.

Federal Supreme Court

The STF is the highest court in the Brazilian judicial system. Its principle function is to ensure that the Constitution is being followed and to give the final ruling in constitutional questions. It is composed of 11 ministers (justices) nominated by the president of the Republic and named by the president following approval in the federal Senate.

Superior Court of Justice

Below the STF is the STJ whose responsibility is to make a uniform interpretation of federal legislation. It is composed of 33 ministers (justices) named by the president of the Republic and selected from a list of three names provided by the Court itself. The justices of the STJ must also be approved by the Senate prior to being named by the Brazilian president.

The STJ rules on important criminal cases that involve State governors, justices, Regional Federal, Electoral, and Labor Courts as well as other public authorities.

In addition to superior courts, the federal Judiciary system is composed Federal Courts and Specialized Courts (Labor Courts, Electoral Courts and Military Courts).

Federal Courts

Federal Courts may process and judge cases in which the Union, autarchies or federal public companies are plaintiffs, defendants, assistants or opponents – except for those that are related to bankruptcy, work accidents, or those that are the sphere of the Electoral Courts or Labor Courts.

It is made up of federal judges and that act in the first instance, of the regional federal courts (appeal), and special courts that rule on crimes that have less dangerous potential and lesser economic value.

Labor Courts

The Labor Courts rule on individual and collective conflicts between employees and employers. It is composed of labor judges who act in the first instance, the Regional Labor Courts (TRT) and by justices that act at the Superior Labor Court (TST).

Electoral Courts

With the objective of guaranteeing the right to a direct and secret ballot, as recognized in the Constitution, the Electoral Courts regulate electoral procedures. In practice, it is responsible for organizing, monitoring and counting the ballot as well as recognizing the elected candidates. They may also decree a loss of a federal or state electoral mandate and rule on irregularities practiced during the elections.

Electoral judges act in the first instance, the Regional Electoral Courts and the justices act at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

Military Courts

The Military Courts are composed of military judges that act in the first instance and appeals, and by justices that make rulings at the Superior Military Court (STM). Their functions are to process and judge military crimes.

State Courts

The organization of the State Courts are the purview of each State and the Federal District. This is where the special civil and criminal courts judges (trial) and justices (appeal) act. Within the States and the Federal District there are also special civil and criminal courts.

The function of the State Courts is to process and rule on any case that is not subject to the jurisdictions of the Federal, Labor, Electoral and Military Courts.

The STF and the STJ have jurisdiction over the federal and state courts. In the first instance, the cases are analyzed by federal or state judges. Appeals are then sent to the Regional Federal Courts, the Courts of Justice, and the Courts of Appeal; the final two organs in the State Courts.

Final appeals can be made from the Military, Electoral, and Labor Courts to the STF if there is a constitutional impact.
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Re: Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The Civil Law system is applied by the Judicial system, which judges are not bound by judicial precedent in their decisions. Judges rely in the Constitution, followed by Codes, laws and regulations as direct source of law. Only 3 identical decisions by the full Supreme Court have a rank of mere “probable doctrine”. In the absence of express legal provisions applicable to a subject matter, general principles of law as stated in scholarly publications (and in commerce law, local customs if practiced by 5 or more merchants who testify to that fact) serve as indirect source of law.

The Constitution and procedure laws have provisions, from which jurists have determined to be the main concepts or principles which guide the legal system. A chapter of the Constitution is devoted to individual freedoms, which provide safeguards against arbitrary detention or punishment. Article 20 of the Constitution provides that no discrimination shall exist by reason of birth, race, sex or religion and that foreigners and national are equal before the law. This equality is also applicable to the acts and appearances of parties before the judicial entities. Another constitutional guarantee provides that nobody shall be judged other than by a competent authority for violations of the previously enacted law. This rule of law principle is also extended to imposition of fines or any other decisions that any public official takes with regards to citizens or their properties. Constitutional provisions which have been criticized abroad are the powers granted to high-ranking officials to order a detention without due process for up to 24 hours and the imprisonment penalties for libel that results in "offenses to the honor". Another chapter of the Constitution provides principles for the actions of the Judiciary power. The constitutional principle of judicial independence provides that Judges are independent in their acts and are subject to nothing more than the Constitution and the laws (Article 207, Constitution)

The Judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court of Justice, formed by 9 Justices. They hear jointly constitutionality cases, while groups of 3 Justices each form 4 Sections: Civil, Criminal, Contentious-Administrative (judicial review of administrative cases, appeal of labor courts) and General Affairs each with their specialized caseload. Constitutionality cases are decided by the totality of all Justices. Civil Superior Justice Tribunals act as appellate courts, while Civil Circuit and Municipal judges try cases above and below US$1,000, respectively. Courts of special jurisdictions are the Family courts which try family law cases and the single Admiralty court which deals with admiralty cases arising from incidents in ships sailing the waters, or on board ships with the flag wherever they are located.

In the Criminal jurisdiction, Criminal Circuit and Municipal judges try cases with imprisonment terms above and below 2 years, respectively. Their decisions are appealed before Criminal Superior Justice Tribunals and may be subject to extraordinary review by the Criminal Section of the Supreme Court.

A Public Defender’s Office is of recent creation and is meant to provide counsel to defendants indicted.

A special labor jurisdiction has Superior Justice Tribunals as appellate courts, and Sectional judges which hear cases. Extraordinary review of their decision is exercised by the Contentious-Administrative Section of the Supreme Court, in the absence of the Labor Section provided under the Labor Code.

The Public Ministry is formed by the Attorney, General of the Nation and the Solicitor, General of the Administration. The Attorney General works along with lower district attorneys , circuit attorneys ) and municipal attorneys which prosecute criminal cases before criminal courts. The Technical Judicial Police is the investigative department of the Public Ministry. Scholars debate to which of the branches the Public Ministry belongs, since it is not subordinate to any of the heads of the branches.

On a local level, municipalities have their equivalent of the three branches of power. Each municipality is led by a mayor, who enforces ordinances enacted by a Municipal Council of community representatives – all of which are elected for 5-year terms in general elections. The mayor appoints justices of the peace who assist in enforcing ordinances in each. These deal with most minor offenses, as they have presence in each of the 500-plus communities. Their decisions are subject to appeal before the mayor of the relevant municipality and to judicial review by the Contentious-Administrative Section of the Supreme Court.

Specialized Judicial Bodies

The Electoral Tribunal is a court separate from the other branches of government. Its 3 magistrates are is appointed by the Assembly for 10-year terms not concurrent with the presidential term or with each other’s term. The Tribunal keeps birth and marriage records, serves as electoral office and also tries cases for violation of electoral laws. The Electoral Attorney takes cases to them for trial.

The People’s Defender or Ombudsman investigates complaints from citizens about abuses by government officials and can call for their sanction or removal. The Ombudsman is appointed by the Assembly for a 5-yeaterm not concurrent with the presidential term.

A Special District Attorney was created in 1990 to prosecute crimes against the Nation. It prosecuted several cases of human rights violations by the military of the pre-1990 governments. However, cases were tried before traditional criminal courts, where acts of alleged coertion against juries preceded the acquittals of

Some non-governmental organizations have acted as human rights groups to gather complaints of violations or abuses by military . The 20-year statute of limitations for further prosecution of pre-1980 violations and the uncovering of human remains at a former military airbase triggered the appointment by the President of a ad-hoc truth commission in 2001. The commission has the duty of gathering information about complaints of human rights violations by the military and its mandate has a specific exclusion from exercising judicial duties. Despite budgetary constraints, the commission has compiled a list of more than a hundred disappearances allegedly related to the military.
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Re: Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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juansweetpotato wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:11 amOverseeing the case in Curitiba was Sérgio Moro, an ambitious young judge who helped prosecutors put pressure on suspects by approving lengthy “preventive detentions”. In the overwhelming majority of cases, Brazilian prisoners remanded in custody before trial are poor. Moro took the unusual step of also denying bail to the rich.
If a system is fundamentally broken ("corrupt"), any individual judge's "heroics" will not make any difference either. For example, central banks are incompetent and corrupt. Appointing a better or just another governor may stem the tide for a while, but the problems will tend to resurface. The fundamental solution is to do away with central banks altogether. That is what cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin promise to do.

Fixing incompetence and corruption at a behemoth such as the Petrobras state-owned company? Split it up and sell off the parts to private owners. From there on, it will be someone else's problem.
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Re: Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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eriksank wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2017 3:40 am
juansweetpotato wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:11 amOverseeing the case in Curitiba was Sérgio Moro, an ambitious young judge who helped prosecutors put pressure on suspects by approving lengthy “preventive detentions”. In the overwhelming majority of cases, Brazilian prisoners remanded in custody before trial are poor. Moro took the unusual step of also denying bail to the rich.
If a system is fundamentally broken ("corrupt"), any individual judge's "heroics" will not make any difference either. For example, central banks are incompetent and corrupt. Appointing a better or just another governor may stem the tide for a while, but the problems will tend to resurface. The fundamental solution is to do away with central banks altogether. That is what cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin promise to do.

Fixing incompetence and corruption at a behemoth such as the Petrobras state-owned company? Split it up and sell off the parts to private owners. From there on, it will be someone else's problem.
It's lovely to see the wealthy culprits getting the same treatment as the people that are usually held without trial, and are fairly often there because one those cnuts has stolen their land etc etc.

But , I would have to agree with you. The most corrupt party has taken control again.EDIT one of the most corrupt.
Maybe the death sentence is the solution to crimes of immense monetary fraud and corruption. Not murder, unless it is of the type that tries to silence justice by the wealthy in corruption cases, as in the murder of a judge in the Brazilian case. Time to maybe try a different approach.

Operation Car-Wash, would also be the perfect name for a similar operation in Cambodia.

Those prosecuting judges were national heroes, until the Bingham's of this world twisted their minds, and brought the public back to a majorly corrupt goverment and the status quo.

So what, pull the money out of MFIs and buy crypto currencies? Surely the captains of industry would just do another underhand takeover? What's to stop it?
Last edited by juansweetpotato on Fri Jun 02, 2017 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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juansweetpotato wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:48 pmIt's lovely to see the wealthy culprits getting the same treatment as the people that are usually held without trial, and are fairly often there because one those cnuts has stolen their land etc etc.
The physical world is quite unfair in comparison with the virtual world. That is why you will not find me trading in the physical world, because indeed, what corrupt cnut will be the judge of it? I only deal with virtualities.
juansweetpotato wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:48 pmSo what, pull the money out of MFIs and buy crypto currencies?
I don't have money in MFIs. I don't see why I would. If you control the keys of your bitcoin, it is your bitcoin. If you do not control the keys of your bitcoin, it is not your bitcoin, and then, you are back to a master-slave relationship with an MFI.


juansweetpotato wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:48 pmSurely the captains of industry would just do another underhand takeover? What's to stop it?
Under the condition of player anonymity, any position of power in the physical world does not carry over whatsoever in the virtual world. For example, the government's monopoly on the use of force in the physical world is of no importance in the virtual world. What can they do with it? Beat up some bytes?

Hence, there are no such "captains of industry" on the internet.

Furthermore, the fact that governments do not -- and cannot -- control communications on the internet -- including the stream of digital cryptomoney -- will be their undoing. It has become easy to organize, fund, and target a hostile government's physical infrastructure from the internet. It is just a question of time before someone does exactly that.

In that sense, I am not interested at all in "reforming" any government department, because given enough time, the problem will simply solve itself.
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Re: Reform the judiciary - reform the country? Tales from recent history.

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If only I had purchased drugs from Silk Road, I'd probably have a nice stash of bitcoins now worth a fair bit.
Do you think there are mostly young people who have bought crypto currencies? The oldies are probably mostly shit scared of the idea what with computers and keys etc. I bet they mostly still watch the tele and eat Spam.
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