Access to Information Law completes 10 years as an important device to fight corruption

Transparency portals are constantly being updated (Adalberto Carvalho/CGU)

May 17, 2022

09:05

Fábio Leite – From Cenarium

MANAUS – “Friend” of the citizen and “terror” of the government, be it municipal, state or federal, the Access to Information Law (LAI) completes 10 years this Monday, 16. The Federal Law No. 12.527/2011 regulates access to information on activities undertaken by the Executive Power and is a device to combat corruption, however, often ignored by the government.

Signed by former President Dilma Rousseff, the LAI is in the sights of reforms, with at least 23 projects for changes in its composition. The law regulates the right to information, guaranteed by the Federal Constitution. “Everyone has the right to receive, from public agencies, information of their private interest, or of collective or general interest,” it specifies. In other words, any citizen can request data from the three branches of government, except for “those whose secrecy is essential to the security of society and the State”, according to item XXXIII, from Chapter I – Individual and Collective Rights and Duties.

Once the information is requested, the public body has up to 20 days to answer the questions, extendable for another ten days. If the answer is negative, it is possible to appeal to the body itself or to higher instances, such as the Office of the Comptroller General (CGU).

Among other points, the law provides for the secrecy of information, which can be classified as reserved, secret, and top secret, and in cases of intimate or personal matters can reach up to 100 years, as was the case of the information concerning the vaccination of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

State Lawmaker Serafim Corrêa (PSB) highlights the importance of transparency in the fight against corruption in the Public Administration. “The law must be complied with by all, it is the best for society and the best way to fight corruption. Transparency nullifies this possibility, unless the whole society is in collusion,” he said.

The former mayor and pre-candidate for the Senate, Arthur Virgílio Neto (PSDB), also reaffirmed that LAI compliance is necessary and cannot be ignored, in whatever public spheres. “The control of public accounts and the accountability of expenses, together with the control bodies and the population, must be a priority for any public manager”, he defended. “The LAI is a great democratic advance, which must be valued. The access to information is a right of any Brazilian citizen”, added the former senator.

Transparency in Manaus?

Among those involved in controversies involving the lack of transparency in public agencies is the Manaus City Hall. The most recent case, disclosed on the national network, was related to a trip of Mayor David Almeida (Avante) and a delegation, not yet disclosed, to “disclose Manaus to the world”. Until this Monday, 16, the City Hall only disclosed that spent about R$ 100 thousand with airline tickets and daily expenses. According to the mayor’s leader, the City Council Manaus (CMM), Marcelo Serafim (PSB), in plenary session last Wednesday, 11, the municipal executive will still disclose the information in the Official Journal of the Municipality and Transparency Portal.

For the councilman Amom Mandel (Cidadania), the negligence in complying with the law, by the municipal management, is an affront to the population. “Even to have low credibility the City Hall still has to improve a lot. It is impossible to talk about transparency if the City Hall does not answer letters, requests for information, and much less questioning on social networks. It is as if the Federal Law did not exist for the City Hall and nobody talks about it,” he concluded.