THELOGICALINDIAN - The bogeyman of bribery rules the apple Indeed over 6 billion bodies alive in countries afflicted by an astute bribery botheration Brazil is a case in point In the aspersion du jour the governmentcontrolled oil aggregation Petrobras allegedly has absent billions of US dollars due to counterfeit affairs bribery and money bed-making Fortunately there is a weapon to advice staterun institutions like Petrobras badly abate bribery and abate its furnishings blockchains acute affairs technology
Also read: The Digital Revolution Increases Sovereignty
Brazil’s ‘Car Wash’ Operation
It is sad to see countries that are affluent in accustomed assets and accomplished bodies accede to the abominable claws of corruption, active millions into abjection and hopelessness. For decades, analytical bribery has bedeviled Brazil, adverse its economy. Brazil ranks 76th in the bribery acumen index, out of 168 abstinent countries.
Corruption has become so common in Brazil that volumes of laws and regulations, as able-bodied as armies of auditors, investigators, and law administration agencies, could not anticipate bribery from occurring in the better Brazilian company, Petrobras.
This aspersion has been appear as a aftereffect of the badge investigations, code-named “Operation Car Wash.” In this operation, top businesspeople and politicians are beneath analysis in what ability be the greatest bribery aspersion anytime in Brazil’s history.
As a result, millions of bodies are consistently demography to the streets accusing the government and arresting businesspeople of corruption.
In the latest anti-government protests, bodies alleged for the allegation of Admiral Dilma Rousseff. Demonstrators additionally alleged for the arrest of her predecessor, the above admiral Lula da Silva. Surprisingly, as anon as a adjudicator started investigating Lula da Silva, Admiral Rousseff anon appointed Lula da Silva as her new Chief of Staff. According to protestors, this move was advised to shield Lula da Silva from investigations accompanying to the Petrobras scandal.
Ironically, millions of government sympathizers, simultaneously, additionally protested on the streets, supporting the government. Government supporters affirmation that allegations adjoin the government are an attack to topple the government.
Blockchain: A Weapon Against Corruption in Brazil
But, who is right, the pro-government, or anti-government protesters? How could affairs account billions of U.S. dollars abandon after a trace?
Unfortunately, Brazil lacks able instruments ensuring that business transaction annal are immutable, irrevocable, and transparent. Therefore, it is accessible that cipher will anytime be able to acknowledgment these questions accurately. This botheration could accept been abhorred if Brazil had acclimated smart contracts based on Bitcoin’s blockchain technology.
Petrobras has in abode behavior and procedures to ensure the candor of business and banking transactions. The Supplier’s Channel provides advice to suppliers on how to conduct business with Petrobras, “To ensure that its assignment is consistently guided by belief and transparency, Petrobras adopts monitoring, oversight, and accountability mechanisms.” Petrobras additionally publishes a Code of Ethics and the Petrobras Corruption Prevention Program manual.
Moreover, Petrobras offers a whistleblowing link and a committed blast cardinal to facilitate the acknowledgment of fraud, corruption, money laundering, and mismanagement. All these anti-corruption controls are allegedly implemented by a well-equipped accumulated babyminding structure, including a accepted ombudsman and an army of auditors.
However, all of these internal controls and babyminding entities accept been to no avail. Corruption still reigns.
Under these circumstances, to auspiciously action fraud, the Brazilian government and Petrobras may ambition to reengineer their business processes, putting in abode new centralized controls to accomplish assertive that all business affairs are accurately recorded, transparent, tamper-proof, and perpetually preserved.
Specifically, authorities should abstraction the allowances of adopting Bitcoin’s blockchain technology, including acute affairs and acute assets, because these technologies action the afterward accordant attributes:
Smart affairs are computer algorithms that, after relying on animal intervention, can verify, execute, and accomplish the acceding of a business agreement. A acute acreage is a acreage whose buying is controlled by agency of smart contracts.
The acceptable account is that acute arrangement platforms are actuality developed at a accelerated pace. For example, RSK Labs afresh appear that it has raised $1 million to beforehand the development of the aboriginal Bitcoin-based acute affairs platform, while absolutely accordant with Ethereum. As the acute affairs pioneer, Nick Szabo, put it, RSK brings the “Best of Bitcoin (currency and adjustment system) best of Ethereum (smart arrangement programming environment).”
Ethereum acute affairs are allowed to fraud, according to its website. Specifically:
Consequently, acute assets and acute contracts, application blockchain attributes, can be developed to ensure: a) Petrobras’ affairs are auditable; b) Petrobras’s assets can consistently be absolute via a alternation of custody; c) transaction annal cannot be altered; and d) awful and base individuals cannot altercation the accuracy of records.
By implementing these solutions, Petrobras and added government-run entities could eventually restore their believability in the bazaar and enhance their accord with their stakeholders, including the Brazilian people.
What are your thoughts on governments application acute affairs and acute assets to action corruption? Let us apperceive in the comments below!
Images address of Pixabay, Wikimedia Commons, Petrobras – Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., and Agencia Brasil Fotografías, Flickr
