Participants highlighted the importance of cooperation between the Judiciary, control bodies, and the financial sector, as well as greater use of intelligence and technology to combat crime.

The importance of integration between oversight and control bodies in combating money laundering and organized crime was the central focus of a seminar held on Wednesday (25) in Brasília, organized by the Esfera Institute of Studies and Innovation, the academic front of the think tank Esfera Brasil, held at IDP (Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research).

The meeting brought together ministers from the Supreme Court, the Federal Court of Accounts, representatives from the Public Ministry, Federal Police, Federal Revenue Service, and public security experts to present the study 'Money Laundering and Combating Organized Crime in Brazil: Reflections on Coaf in Comparative Perspective,' conducted by the Esfera Institute in partnership with the Brazilian Forum on Public Security.

The survey shows the importance of strengthening Coaf (Council for the Control of Financial Activities) and discusses strategies to make the fight against crime more effective, systemic, and republic.

Supreme Court Minister advocates for more than weapons, but the use of financial intelligence in combating organized crime.

For Supreme Court Minister Gilmar Mendes, combating organized crime has ceased to be merely a public security issue and has become an institutional challenge. 'More than weapons, facing this requires financial intelligence, asset tracking, and coordinated action among institutions. Crime cannot be fought by committing crime. This work needs to occur within constitutional parameters,' he stated.

The minister of the Federal Court of Accounts Bruno Dantas warned of the need to transform data into intelligence. 'There is no shortage of data; what is lacking is integration, governance, and shared priorities. We need institutions that function as a system,' Dantas said.

Meanwhile, the director-general of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, stated that cooperation between institutions has been essential for recent good results. 'Combating organized crime requires internal integration, international cooperation, decapitalization, and the arrest of leaders. It is strategy, not spectacle,' he concluded.

At the opening of the seminar, the CEO of the Esfera Institute and Esfera Brasil, Camila Funaro Camargo Dantas, emphasized that money laundering has become a 'business model' in Brazil and that it is necessary for the country to invest in control mechanisms to combat organized crime. 'Criminals invest in crypto-assets, trade gold, sponsor digital betting, launder money at gas stations, and provide services where the state fails. Money laundering has ceased to be a final step and has become a business model.'

The CEO of Casa ParlaMento, the political articulation front of Esfera Brasil, João Victor Prasser, delivered to the president of União Brasil, Antônio Rueda, a draft law prepared by Esfera Brasil that proposes the creation of a program to incentivize the installation of monitoring cameras in Brazilian municipalities as a tool for prevention and public safety. Rueda committed to advancing the proposal in the National Congress.

Strategic role of Coaf.

With about 7.5 million reports of suspicious operations received each year and just over 100 employees working in its structure, Coaf was pointed out by several participants as the nerve center of the money laundering prevention system in Brazil, but also as an agency that urgently needs institutional reinforcement.

Criminal lawyer Pierpaolo Bottini, president of the Academic Council of the Esfera Institute, said that Coaf needs to operate in new frontiers such as fintechs, bets, and crypto-assets, which are often used for money laundering. 'These are very important sensitive sectors that are not obliged to report to Coaf any suspicion of money laundering. If we do not regulate how crypto-asset exchanges communicate with Coaf, we will have a large sector of the economy, often used for money laundering, without the obligation to report and without the possibility of making these reports because the channel is closed. We live with the blackout of these sectors,' he stated.

Bottini also advocated for strengthening the technical framework, investing in technology and infrastructure, and a clear policy for data management and sharing from Coaf.

The assessment is that, with more operational capacity, the council will be able to generate even more effective results for society, contributing quality intelligence to the qualified repression of financial crime.

Ricardo Saadi, director of the Federal Police and future president of Coaf, advocated that the agency should have its own staff. Currently, the entity only has employees seconded from other agencies. 'We need to create a hub for information exchange and value the technical careers responsible for analyzing this data. Only with a more modern and integrated structure will Coaf be able to protect citizens even more,' he said.