Operation Car Wash

A Financial Times Book to Read in 2022 Operation Car Wash is the inside story of two Brazilian Federal Police officers who found themselves at the centre of the biggest corruption scandal in history; uncovering a web of political and corporate racketeering which would lead them all the way to the arrest and imprisonment of the nation's President. Through engrossing first-hand testimony, Pontes and Anselmo recount the uphill battle faced by the Federal Police in apprehending Brazil's white-collar criminals, in a country where the war on drugs has become a convenient distraction for the politicians and businessmen extracting billions of dollars from the public purse. A historical record that reads like a political police thriller, Operation Car Wash is also a warning to the world: demonstrating how easily institutionalized crime can take root in a nation, and how difficult it can be to eradicate.

Jorge Pontes is a graduate from the FBI National Academy. He spent almost thirty years working for the Federal Police-first as an agent and later as a police chief-both nationwide and abroad, and devoted most of his career to the creation and implementation of units specializing in fighting environmental crime. Marcio Anselmo joined the Federal Police as a clerk in 2004, stationed in Guaíra, and has since been actively involved in investigating financial crime, corruption and money laundering. He worked on the Banestado case in Brasília, and led the investigations on Operation Faktor. From 2018 to 2020, he occupied the post of coordinator-general of the corruption and money laundering unit.

Foreword Professor Robert I. Rotberg 1.The arrest of Marcelo Odebrecht INSTITUTIONALIZED CRIME 2.From Narcotics to Environmental Crime NEXT STOP: THE FBI INTERNAL RESISTANCE 3.The Embryo of Operation Car Wash FROM THE "TRUCKER'S KIT" TO FINANCIAL CRIME THE FAKTOR "FACULTY" NOTHING WOULD BE THE SAME AGAIN 4.The Diversion of the Federal Police SKEWING PRIORITIES HEAVIER WORKLOAD, FEWER AGENTS 5.From Organized to Institutionalized Crime THE OFFICIAL PLATFORM THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT'S CHIEF OF STAFF THE PARADOX OF THE FP UNDER LULA THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF CORRUPTION WHITE-COLLAR CRIME AND WEBS FOR SMALL INSECTS 6.The Investigation of Lula AN EXPLOSIVE WIRE-TAP THE ARREST 7. Capitalism, the Brazilian Way AN INSTITUTIONALIZED ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY THE ORIENT EXPRESS EFFECT RAIN HOURS THE NON-CRIME 8.Jewelry, Racketeers, and Bad Checks - a State on the Rampage CABRAL'S RIO -MEGA-EVENTS AND MEGA-CORRUPTION A GLIMPSE OF THE WHALE - A CASE IN PERNAMBUCO THE POLICE CHIEF IN THE BOW TIE 9.The Obstruction of Federal Police Investigations THE TENSEST DAY THE CAYMAN DOSSIER INSTITUTIONAL LEAKS DILMA'S PHANTOM E-MAIL ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN DAYS OF MIXED SIGNALS 10.Political Appointments THE "CLEANING CREWS" AND "RESCUE TEAMS" THE KING'S FIFTH 11.The Current Role of the Federal Police THE LAST TARGET OF OPERATION CAR WASH: THE JUDICIARY A SYSTEM MADE NOT TO WORK INSTITUTIONALIZED CRIME AS A THREAT TO THE NATION'S DEVELOPMENT 12.Proposals for the Future Postscript: About a Plane Afterword: The Normalization of Malfeasance Why it's so hard to dismantle institutionalized crime in Brazil Luís Roberto Barroso