Reflexões sobre a lei de improbidade administrativa brasileira: possibilidade de avanços e retrocessos no combate à corrupção praticada contra a Administração Pública

Abstract

The Law of Administrative Improbity 8429/1992 was enacted to sanction the dishonest member of the Public Administration, and, consequently, improve the fight against corruption in Brazil, restraining as many acts as possible that go against the public interest and attempt against the treasury. The debate about the need to have morality rooted in the social community and in the individual was the subject of discussion among the philosophers Plato and Aristotle, under the maxim that ethics and politics must always be in consonance, to guarantee human happiness; a political body structured by principles and composed of honest individuals. With this in mind, the present work presents the two antonymous sides of Public Administration: administrative morality and corruption. Once the principles and moral foundations guiding the Administrative Improbity Law were stratified, a doctrinal analysis of the legal text of Laws 8,429/1992 and 14,230/2021 was performed, starting with the description of the main criticisms made about the original text of the Administrative Improbity Law and the changes proposed by Law 14,230/2021, producing, as a result, a comparative picture of these two laws. In the end, through empirical research of a qualitative nature, we discussed personal reports extracted from interviews with lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and public servants working in Brazil in the field of administrative improbity, mapping the practice of the application of Law 8.429/1992, as well as the current moment of transition and adaptation to Law 14.230/2021. Finally, we dissertate on the primary effects caused by the changes in the Administrative Improbity Law (whether positive and/or negative) by allowing impunity, and consequently, the weakening of the anti-corruption system, which is understood as the principal degenerative factor of the social body.