Okay, so we got to that point where no one thought we'd get there. Some of the supposed bad guys are, even sursis to the contrary, behind bars. Supposed, yes, and for no other reason than the need to prove that they are in fact the bosses of part of the evil spread in the environment of Petrobras and subsidiaries, among other perhaps many similar companies.

I hear through corporate corridors some 'finally, 'and others 'they were the victims, not the worst bandits'. The market, that multifaceted being, a medley of contradictory opinions, is confused. Not for less. Everyone knows that the market doesn't like confusion. It prefers permanence or discontinuity solutions, if necessary, without fanfare. But the mess is made and the dice roll.

Brazilian Foreigner

I keep looking at this from afar and up close, and the feeling I have is one of strangeness, which perhaps matches the emotions aroused in so many other people. Or maybe not so much, since I am a sui generis type of Brazilian: I was born far away in Scotland, but 30 or so years ago I chose to be reborn in Brazil. My vision of what is happening is, at the same time, of Brazilians and foreigners.

Despite certain possible discomforts in the fact that I am a double, in the cultural sense of emotional and intellectual perception, I think that I have some advantage over the eyes of a born Brazilian and, of course, over that of a pure foreigner. When companies hire me to investigate cases of corruption and other fraud that occur in their bodies, it is, in part, this biased and bipartisan view that drives them. Freud, the creator of psychoanalysis, said of the importance of looking at an object of study from every possible angle, turning it like a slow spinning wheel to observe the other side - and there is always another side, even though that object has already been thoroughly investigated. My double gaze may help me in that regard.

But what does this even have to do with the arrests of presidents, VPs, and directors of companies at the top of the Brazilian corporate food chain? A lot, I think. I'm not saying that new and shocking things for the average citizen will be discovered — it will happen one way or another. My point is different. I'm talking about being able to experience the strangeness of what's happening.

Since the 80s, I have experienced sensational changes in Brazil, many of which were unexpected and endowed with a unique tropical glow — which was done to replace the military in power, the fury of the streets that swept through Collor, the laborious but almost magical moment in which 50-year inflation was disappointed by Itamar and FHC, the arrival of Lula to Planalto: these things inspire me as a Brazilian to believe that the best future envisaged by Stefan Zweig, an inveterate pessimist, has finally arrived

But then I look with the pragmatic eye of a Scotsman who lives in me somewhere and I see the price that is being paid, and, first and foremost, the resilient continuity of the culture of Gerson's law, of the steal but do, of the knows-with-whom-he is talking to, and then a lot of things seem to lose their meaning. Adam Smith, the Scottish father of market economy theory, made it clear that profit without ethics is not worth it. I wonder if these profound cultural traits will in any way be undermined by what is happening today. And of course I don't know — I'm a lawyer and investigator, not a magician — just like no one in good conscience can say they know.

What gives me some hope is the concept of moral entropy. In environments characterized by corruption, something occurs that can be called that way. Analogous to the entropy of quantum physics, it denotes that a “rotten” environment will deteriorate exponentially. There's no way to improve it alone. An input of “positive energy” is needed to change the situation.

We are seeing precisely this input of “positive energy” in the form of action of the Federal Police. We are seeing an independent and aggressive PF that is not afraid of anyone and does not respond or obey spurious orders. Investigate thoroughly and don't think twice to arrest important businessmen and executives when there is evidence. There are political obstacles to going after the recipients of corruption for now. However, the PF can catch - and is doing so - the payers.

Of course it's a step in the right direction. But does Brazilian society really want to get rid of endemic corruption?
My Scottish eye sometimes thinks not. My Brazilian eye shines through yes. Maybe I'm getting cross-eyed, but my heart is shaking like a bagpipes drum samba that sings for yet another change to fill the soul with faith, as were several others that this country gave me, and allowed us to live.

*Postgraduate lawyer in Economic Law from Yale Law School and Master in International Law from Cambridge, Barry Wolfe is director of Wolfe Associates (www.wolfe.com.br), a consultancy in preventive compliance, risk assessment and corporate fraud investigation.

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