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The 2021 Capacity to Combat Corruption (CCC) Index[1] is a report responsible for assessing the capacity of Latin America Countries to detect, punish and prevent corruption, published by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) and Control Risks.

The 2021 edition of the CCC Index constitutes its 3^rd edition, responsible for carrying out an assessment of countries based in 14 variables, such as the strength of investigative journalism, the independence of legal institutions and the level of resources available to fight white-collar crimes. The survey covers 15 countries, which together represent 95% of Latin America´s GDP.

Brazil dropped two positions in the raking of the 2021 CCC Index compared to the previous year, a result that has been a reality since 2019, so that its overall score compared to 2020 dropped 8%. The country is now in the 6^th position in the overall raking compared to the other nations evaluated, having a lower score than countries such as: Uruguay (1^st), Chile (2^nd), Costa Rica (3^rd), Peru (4^th), and Argentina (5^th).

The report also points out critical areas that considers it should be monitored in the context of fighting corruption in each of the countries evaluated. The main points highlighted regarding Brazil were: (i) the possibility of leaders of the Ministério Público Federal (Federal Public Ministry) and of the Polícia Federal (Federal Police) appointed by the government continue to be pressured by the Chief of the Executive and his inner circle regarding investigations into corruption, (iii) the fact that the president will appoint a second justice to the Brazilian Supreme Court still in 2021, and (iii) recent court decisions that benefited relevant defendants in the Lava Jato investigations, which could influence other defendants, nullify or invalidate the Lava Jato cases decisions.

[1] The 2021 CCC Index report is available at: https://www.as-coa.org/sites/default/files/CCC_Report_2021.pdf.