Watering down “Ficha Limpa” with dirty water

A subtle change in language and a big change in meaning. In response to popular pressure Congress quickly approved a law that will make politicians with legal problems ineligible to run for office –  but not right away. The phrase “those who have been found guilty” was changed to “those who are found guilty,” so that only future crimes will count under the new law. That means that infamous “they steal but get things done” (“rouba mas faz”) politicians such as Joaquim Roriz and Paulo Maluf will not be affected by the new law and can run for office this year.

Demostenes Torres (DEM-GO), who is responsible for the wording of the law, says he wishes such people could not run for office this year. “But we have judicial parameters. The law moves ahead, not backwards. And we just changed the verb tense. The laws we have are very rigid” [the senator is referring to a Supreme Court ruling that politicians can only be ineligible after their cases have exhausted every single legal avenue]

Torres says that the verb tense change will make it easier to apply the law in court. And it will mean that electoral crimes formerly punished only with forfeiture of office will now also carry ineligibility penalities. 

As for politicians’ favorite escape route: just resign and then a run for office again, that will not be possible any more, says Torres. A politician who resigns will also be ineligible to run again. And, he warns, smart lawyers will be wasting their time trying to find loopholes in the new law.