BRAZIL PROBE UNCOVERS HIGH-LEVEL CORRUPTION

RIO DE JANEIRO - A series of congressional investigations in recent weeks
has uncovered widespread official corruption in Brazil, roiled political
circles and raised real, if slim, hope that the probes will lead to jail
time for the most prominent perpetrators.

The investigations, known here as CPIs, have centered on banks and the
judiciary, and on organized crime. Thus far, the organized crime
investigation has been the most successful, as the panel has unearthed a
web of corruption and criminal acts - in many cases involving drug
trafficking - that has spanned 11 states and included more than 60
government officials.

The congressional investigation of the judiciary also has brought to light
a scheme in which construction companies received $169 million in illegal
payments in connection with the building of a labor relations court in Sao
Paulo.

That investigation has led to allegations against Sen. Luiz Estevao, whose
companies are said to have received $34 million in illicit payments.
Congress has recommended his indictment, which may come before Christmas,
and he could become the first Brazilian senator to be expelled. Estevao has
denied wrongdoing.

These investigations "have done more in the past three months than the
executive branch has been able to do over the past 20 years," said David
Fleischer, head of Brazil's chapter of Transparency International, a
Berlin-based anti-corruption organization.

But Fleischer and other analysts said the real challenge is whether law
enforcement authorities can successfully prosecute the most deeply involved
officials. "They seem to be testing the rule that says that in Brazil, no
politicians go to jail," said Jose Luciano Dias, a political consultant in
the capital, Brasilia.

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has deemed the investigations crucial
to denting the country's long and stubborn tradition of impunity but has
repeatedly reminded Brazilians that the investigations have not tainted the
government's highest-ranking officials.

"These are people I've never heard of," Cardoso said in a recent interview,
referring to the state and local officials accused of involvement in
organized crime. "There are some networks, but it's very dispersed. The
[accused state] deputies are marginal."

Cardoso also has responded to the investigation by creating an anti-crime
and -corruption unit that will use Central Bank investigators as well as
federal police, prosecutors and tax officials to further root out illegal
activity among Brazil's public servants.

Congressional investigations aren't new in Brazil, and these are not the
first ones to uncover serious and widespread wrongdoing among public
officials.

In 1992, in fact, an investigation ultimately led to the impeachment of
then-president Fernando Collor de Mello, after he allegedly took kickbacks.
Several high-level administration officials and friends of Collor were
accused of criminal wrongdoing, but only one major player served jail time
(and for only a few months).

The following year an investigation found that members of a congressional
budget committee had funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to
construction companies in a complicated kickback scheme.

None of the accused congressmen went to prison.

Consequently many citizens view parliamentary probes as little more than
political theater that wins public relations points for the investigators
but achieves little of substance.

"They make a lot of noise, but seldom does anyone go to jail or anything
get changed within the system," said Eduardo Tinoco, 32, a professor of
periodontology at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. "These ministers
and politicians have a lot of money, and they hire good lawyers and they
don't get punished. It's been like this for many years."

What has made these latest investigations unusual is that they have laid
bare the kind of corruption among their politicians that Brazilians had
long suspected.

Public officials allegedly have participated in intricate networks of drug
trafficking and arms running, money laundering and truck hijacking.

State assemblies also are conducting 38 investigations, most involving
administrative corruption.

"It has really shown the full spectrum of who's involved," Fleischer said
of the probe of organized crime by the national congress. "Most of us
didn't know there was such a broad involvement of people. That's the first
time that's been done."