In addition to Brazil, the event brought together external control leaders from seven countries: Russia, India, Hungary, United States, United Arab Emirates, Portugal and France.

 
The meeting was opened by the president of the State Audit Institution of the United Arab Emirates, Arib Al Amimi, who also chairs the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (Intosai), an entity whose vice-presidency is held by Brazil.

The meeting was mediated by the representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Giovanny Gallo. When inviting the TCU minister to speak, Gallo pointed out that Brazil will host the Intosai congress (Incosai) in 2022. 

TCU - In his speech, Bruno Dantas said that the fight against corruption is one of the main focuses of the Court, which has taken several actions in this direction, including strengthening inter-institutional articulation. “Networking has been one of the biggest steps taken by the TCU in order to leverage our efficiency and effectiveness in preventing and fighting corruption. We are developing our networking since 2009, with the goal of optimizing efforts, reducing costs, and improving results”, he said.

In addition to the exchange of experiences and knowledge, the TCU’s vice-president pointed out that the integrated actions avoid duplication and adds quality to the work, saving time and reducing the possibility of mistakes.

“There are also gains in innovation, because frequently partnerships end up developing new ways to tackle old problems and complex challenges”, he said.

The use of innovative information technology tools was also highlighted by Bruno Dantas. He cited as an example the systems Alice, Sofia and Monica, which allow for greater agility in data analysis and, from that, a faster detection of fraud risks in bidding and other public administration acts. “Last month, the TCU launched the e-Prevenção [e-Prevention] platform, with the purpose of helping public managers in their information needs to prevent corruption in their institutions”, he informed. “With the development of these tools, we seek to produce better results for society”, he added.

Global Effort - Each participant made a brief presentation about the institutions represented by them and the initiatives undertaken in order to fight corruption and the misuse of public resources. In general lines, they highlighted that corruption is one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable development in the world. “These are changes that do not happen overnight and there is still much to be done”, stressed the director of the Government Accountability Office of the United States, Johana Ayers.

Joint solutions, use of technology, training, and the importance of investing in prevention – in mechanisms for early detection of possible deviations and frauds – were some of the topics discussed. Among the goals to be achieved are greater transparency, accountability and integrity in the public sector.

The context of Covid-19, which still imposes restrictions and requires global efforts, also composed the speech of the leaders, who expressed the concern on the part of the control bodies regarding the good use of public resources committed by nations to face the pandemic. “Beyond the current moment, the world needs to prepare for new crises to come”, observed Giovanni Gallo, UN representative.