An enquiry into the independence of Brazil's federal court of accounts (ePub)

The Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) is Brazil's "leading government audit institution"; it is the only one dealing exclusively with auditing. The TCU is part of the federal legislative branch, which the TCU assists in its constitutional attribution of overseeing the government finances (Article 71 of the Federal Constitution). Grosso modo, its structure includes, on one side, a professional corps with 1,576 auditors and, on the other, a college of nine judges called ministers that decide on cases. These ministers are chosen by Congress (six) and by the president (three, upon confirmation by the Senate). The requirements for becoming a member are rather loose: the appointees need only be between 35 and 65 years of age, have good reputation and knowledge on a number of topics, and ten years of work experience in a relevant area (Art. 73, §1). Observers say they usually are at the height or the end of their political career when chosen to join the TCU. Further, nominations are highly politicised. With all that, the connections to politics that most of its ministers have - five in the current composition have run for office - seem to be a perfect formula for partisan dominance of the Tribunal. However, the TCU has shown relative independence from daily politics. The book attempts at demonstrating how.