| | A delegation from the Public Ministry of the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais participated in the 2011 Law, Justice and Development Week in Washington, DC. The Attorney General of the State of Minas Gerais presented the Public Ministry’s experience in combating tax evasion and recovering assets throughout the state in the panel on Innovation in Asset Recovery and International Legal Cooperation. During his address, the Attorney General noted that within a six year period, the Public Ministry was able to recover the equivalent of almost US$2.0 million in funds with a staff of six prosecutors. One of the keys to the Public Ministry’s success has been the forging of a partnership between their office and the State Treasury. The Attorney General observed that a clear sign of the Public Ministry’s success has been the level to which the prosecutorial investigations have created a spillover effect – with citizens and corporations not otherwise under investigation for tax evasion coming to the state and paying arrears on their tax accounts.
The Chief Environmental Prosecutor for the State of Minas Gerais participated in the Problem Solving Approaches for Development Projects panel. He presented the case of the State of Minas Gerais’ Public Ministry in the area of Environmental Justice. The Chief Environmental Prosecutor noted that in 2010, that the State Public Ministry won Brazil’s prestigious Innovare International Award. This award is given out each year and recognizes groups or institutions in their fight to Remove Redtape in the Brazilian Justice System. The Public Ministry of the State of Minas Gerais was recognized for its reorganization of the State’s environmental prosecutors around environmental and geographic regions to improve their effectiveness in environmental conflicts.
Under the Chief Environmental Prosecutor’s leadership, the state’s Public Ministry has placed a strong emphasis on out-of-court negotiations to address environmental infractions. Given the state’s economic and environmental diversity, the environmental prosecutors work spans areas such as: the protection of protected areas, such as forests, environmental restoration, pollution, the protection of wildlife, mining and sanitation. The Public Ministry of Minas Gerais (PMoMG) has a unique institutional role in areas that greatly affect the quality of life of in the State of Minas Gerais. The Public Ministry (Ministério Público) is a unique institution that combines the prosecutorial functions exercised by counterparts in other civil law countries with the added role of a super-empowered ombudsman. In the exercise of both its functions, the Public Ministry represents society's interests and not those of the state; the Public Ministry, therefore, operates with significant institutional independence from other branches of government. The 1988 Brazilian Constitution granted broad powers to the Public Ministry to investigate and take actions against private or government entities who have violated constitutionally guaranteed rights, particularly in the areas of environment, consumer relations, the elderly, children and teenagers, public property, etc.. The Public Ministry is also responsible for ensuring government agencies' compliance with infra-constitutional law and has played a significant role in fighting corruption. The Public Ministry operates in all Brazilian states (in general courts) and at the federal level (including labor, and military courts). The Public Ministry’s legal and institutional framework provides it with a great deal of independence and discretionary capacity. This is true both for the institution as a whole as for the individual prosecutors. The Legal Vice Presidency is supporting the state’s efforts to modernize through an IDF Grant. The grant was approved in December 2009, and totals US$399,300. This grant evolved after many years of close partnership between the Bank and the State Attorney General’s Office on legal matters, as well as legal aspects of the Public Ministry’s environmental work. The state serves as a microcosm of the country; its varied geography and socio-economic makeup mean that most of the issues faced by the state prosecutors are faced in other parts of the country, and at the national level as well. The objective of the “Strengthening the Ministério Público in Minas Gerais” IDF Grant is to strengthen the Public Ministry of the State of Minas Gerais’ institutional capacity. The Grant supports two components – one to undertake an institutional diagnosis as a means to support the Public Ministry’s modernization while increasing its effectiveness through improved human resource allocation. The second component provides technical assistance to the Public Ministry to pilot new methodologies and techniques for quantification of environmental damage, as well as strengthen the technical capacity of the Public Ministry’s prosecutors to provide out of court mediation. Given the gaps in the current national legislation, the activities under this component seek to bridge the state legislation and regulation while ensuring the diffuse rights enshrined in the constitution are also protected. The grant has made considerable advances in pinpointing areas of concern with regards to staffing needs and other resources in the state’s poor Northeastern region. Subsequently, a study is currently being contracted to analyze the needs of the region. Under the environmental component, the Public Ministry has launched a series of courses to address the technical aspects of mediation and negotiation of environmental conflicts. The Public Ministry as also applying IDF funds to contract a study to draft an legal-environmental framework analysis for the environmental licensing of mining activities within the state.
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