4 - One Crusade and Two Failed Inquiries

Summary

Chapter 4 relies on secondary sources, official documentation, and interviews to take readers further afield and explore how Lava Jato unfolded under different political conditions than in Peru, where defendants were relatively weak. Ecuador, another positive case, shows the heuristic value of the model when defendants are stronger. In particular, it further demonstrates the critical role that taskforce creation plays in engineering crusades. Mexico and Argentina are the negative cases. They both lack the type of autonomy-building reforms seen in Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador. One consequence of a deficient reform process is that investigations rarely fall in expert hands and become politicised. In particular, the Argentine case suggests that without the synergies associated with teamwork in taskforces, prosecutors are unable to investigate effectively. For this reason, the Argentine inquiry failed to gain momentum despite initially benefiting from a generous window of political opportunity.