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The Mechanism: A Crime Network So Deep it Brought Down a Nation
INTRODUCTION BY MISHA GLENNY , author of McMafia A gripping narrative of power, corruption and greed, The Mechanism is the true story of how a simple investigation into money laundering uncovered the biggest corruption scandal in human history. When a small team of investigators discovered that a black market currency dealer was operating out of a Brazilian petrol station, they could never have imagined that their work would destroy the government and lead to the impeachment of two presidents. As the trail leads further and further into the centre of power, the search for the truth and pursuit of justice become ever more crucial. Taut and riveting, with more plot twists than the most compelling political thriller, The Mechanism is an essential work of non-fiction that exposes the rottenness caused when politicians and big businesses believe they are above the law.
544 pages, Paperback
Published May 2, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
October 12, 2016
Quem vê acha até que é uma dessas biografias podres vendidas na Laselva, mas não é. O livro é sério e faz um baita dum trabalho cívico que é o de amarrar o caos da Lava Jato pro leitor. É tanta treta junta que você fica mentalmente esgotado e sem ânimo de falar em golpe. E não adianta, apesar do corporativismo dos procuradores federais (que ficou claro agora na discussão da PEC 241) a Lava Jato é uma vitoria coletiva pras nossas instituições e mérito pessoal pra galera de Curitiba. Sem a lava jato o Brasil talvez teria se tornado num novo Qatar ou numa nova Rússia.
November 30, 2020
The Mechanism is a superb book about the ground-breaking corruption scandal in Brazil that changed the face of the nation. It is also considered the biggest bribery-scheme discovered till date anywhere in the world.
I came to know about this book from a Netflix TV series of the same name – it wasn’t bad, but it was overtly dramatized so I turned directly to the source material and I was not disappointed.
Vladimir Netto has done such a great job of unravelling this very complex corruption scheme that broke out in Brazil in 2014 which led to top executives from Petrobras (state-run oil and gas giant, the country’s biggest company), construction firms and political members at the highest level being incarcerated.
During the course of the investigation, former president and Brazil’s leftist hero Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was imprisoned and his successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached as millions of people thronged the streets in support of the operation.
Netto is cautious and detailed in his writing to make the structure of this mafia-like web of organised crime accessible to a layperson. He follows the timeline to show how a money-laundering investigation at a petrol station (from where it got the name “Operation Car Wash”) snowballed to uncover a huge corruption scheme where the country’s top construction firms and politicians were siphoning money off of state-run companies with help of countless middlemen and offshore accounts.
While reading, I was in awe of the judges, prosecutors and detectives who, after few months of work had realised this was no ordinary investigation and decided they would go the distance to uncover this monstrous crime in its entirety. They showed such great resilience to grind it to the end, expose everything despite loud opposition and even if it meant that one day they would have knock on the president’s door.
I think Netto was also a little bit in adulation of Sergio Moro, and rightly so. Without the federal judge’s initial push, the investigation may not have turned out as it did and his ethics and drive to bring the criminals to justice raised him to the status of a hero all over the country. His later actions, though, remain subject to much debate.
I really felt like I lived this “great unravelling” through the book, despite Netto’s obvious admiration of Moro and the operation, he brought in viewpoints of every party involved – the people responsible for the investigation, the company executives, their lawyers, the role of the media, accused politicians and the public’s opinion.
Throughout the book, however, I also had a sombre feeling because I kept wondering, this would never happen in India . From what we have seen, the ruling party’s hold is so strong they would never let it see the light of day and that makes us question if anybody would even have the fight in them to take up such a monumental task.
2014 onwards, Brazil was also suffering from its deepest recession and the Operation Car Wash’s revelations only added to its woes. Petrobrasil and the sixteen construction firms were among the biggest employers in the country but the investigation led them to take billions in write-downs and a few even filed for bankruptcy. Naturally, hundreds and thousands of layoffs ensued, showing again how even when the rich who pocketed millions were being brought to justice, the working class continued to face the brunt.
This anger and distrust of the government served as a precursor to the far-right leader’s Jair Bolsanaro’s anti-corruption drive that gained popularity and eventually brought him to power in Brazil in 2018. This is quite similar to Modi’s rise in India too, despite the right being blatantly xenophobic and corrupt themselves, the party at the helm before his was constantly being implicated in one scandal after another.
I came to know about this book from a Netflix TV series of the same name – it wasn’t bad, but it was overtly dramatized so I turned directly to the source material and I was not disappointed.
Vladimir Netto has done such a great job of unravelling this very complex corruption scheme that broke out in Brazil in 2014 which led to top executives from Petrobras (state-run oil and gas giant, the country’s biggest company), construction firms and political members at the highest level being incarcerated.
During the course of the investigation, former president and Brazil’s leftist hero Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was imprisoned and his successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached as millions of people thronged the streets in support of the operation.
Netto is cautious and detailed in his writing to make the structure of this mafia-like web of organised crime accessible to a layperson. He follows the timeline to show how a money-laundering investigation at a petrol station (from where it got the name “Operation Car Wash”) snowballed to uncover a huge corruption scheme where the country’s top construction firms and politicians were siphoning money off of state-run companies with help of countless middlemen and offshore accounts.
While reading, I was in awe of the judges, prosecutors and detectives who, after few months of work had realised this was no ordinary investigation and decided they would go the distance to uncover this monstrous crime in its entirety. They showed such great resilience to grind it to the end, expose everything despite loud opposition and even if it meant that one day they would have knock on the president’s door.
I think Netto was also a little bit in adulation of Sergio Moro, and rightly so. Without the federal judge’s initial push, the investigation may not have turned out as it did and his ethics and drive to bring the criminals to justice raised him to the status of a hero all over the country. His later actions, though, remain subject to much debate.
I really felt like I lived this “great unravelling” through the book, despite Netto’s obvious admiration of Moro and the operation, he brought in viewpoints of every party involved – the people responsible for the investigation, the company executives, their lawyers, the role of the media, accused politicians and the public’s opinion.
Throughout the book, however, I also had a sombre feeling because I kept wondering, this would never happen in India . From what we have seen, the ruling party’s hold is so strong they would never let it see the light of day and that makes us question if anybody would even have the fight in them to take up such a monumental task.
2014 onwards, Brazil was also suffering from its deepest recession and the Operation Car Wash’s revelations only added to its woes. Petrobrasil and the sixteen construction firms were among the biggest employers in the country but the investigation led them to take billions in write-downs and a few even filed for bankruptcy. Naturally, hundreds and thousands of layoffs ensued, showing again how even when the rich who pocketed millions were being brought to justice, the working class continued to face the brunt.
This anger and distrust of the government served as a precursor to the far-right leader’s Jair Bolsanaro’s anti-corruption drive that gained popularity and eventually brought him to power in Brazil in 2018. This is quite similar to Modi’s rise in India too, despite the right being blatantly xenophobic and corrupt themselves, the party at the helm before his was constantly being implicated in one scandal after another.
April 15, 2017
Esse livro é excepcional. Recomendo bastante a leitura.
O Vladimir adota uma linguagem clara e é conciso sem omitir informações importantes da operação.
Apesar de terem sido amplamente divulgados os detalhes da operação, a leitura permite ordenar todos os acontecimentos cronologicamente e entender a relação de causa e efeito entre eles, onde uma delação levou a outra delação ou prisão...
Além disso, alguns detalhes novos são trazidos pelo autor, e a estrutura do texto, obedecendo a cronologia dos fatos, torna a leitura bastante agradável, dando uma dinâmica de novela.
O Vladimir adota uma linguagem clara e é conciso sem omitir informações importantes da operação.
Apesar de terem sido amplamente divulgados os detalhes da operação, a leitura permite ordenar todos os acontecimentos cronologicamente e entender a relação de causa e efeito entre eles, onde uma delação levou a outra delação ou prisão...
Além disso, alguns detalhes novos são trazidos pelo autor, e a estrutura do texto, obedecendo a cronologia dos fatos, torna a leitura bastante agradável, dando uma dinâmica de novela.
July 13, 2020
Muito interessante entender melhor como tudo funcionou, de forma detalhada e mostrando pelo menos um pocuo dos dois lados: o investigado, e o investigador. A Lava Jato faz parte da história do nosso país, e é uma pena que acabe sendo associada a ideologias (principalmente na entrada do Moro à equipe de Ministros de Bolsonaro). Ainda assim, sua atuação caracteriza a de alguém comprometido com a justiça. Sinceramente, não sou capaz de dizer se suas medidas foram ou não inadequadas - como as prisões preventidas ou mantados de condução coercitiva - mas o ponto é justamente esse: não sou estudada o suficiente para discutir Direito com um juiz, e acredito que muitos dos cidadãos também não são. O livro chama atenção à necessidade de entendermos mais sobre nossa Cosntituição e Estado de Direito - não só pelo contexto em que se desenrola, mas também pelos termos e linguagem. Acima de tudo, é uma elucidação acerca de algo que eu achei que entendia. Precisamos parar de achar que estamos na posição de discutir qualquer coisa. Precisamos primeiro conhecer os fatos. Depois, podemos tecer interpretaçõs a respeito - o problema é quando pulamos a primeira parte, e achamos que somos mais instruídos do que pessoas que estudaram décadas para atuarem onde atuam. Não vou dizer que o livro não é partidário, pois tem uma visão positiva da Lava Jato - mas isso não é um problema. No tocante a contar histórias, é impossível não ser partidário - somos quem somos, e isso transparece em tudo o que fazemos. Não há problema em ler um livro partidário (até porque este de fato evidencia as opiniões contra a Lava Jato e os argumentos que a sustentam), mas precisamos parar de ver o outro como mero oponente em uma discussão política.
February 16, 2017
5 estrelas reservo aos livros que mudaram minha vida. Não fosse isso, este seria um 5⭐️! Leitura descomplicada, rápida, rica em detalhes, bastidores e fidelidade aos fatos. Os jornais são apenas a ponta do iceberg, aqui você consegue aprofundar um pouco mais. Recomendadíssimo!!
April 5, 2021
só li pq um cidadão ficava postando toda hora que lia no Instagram. aí como tinha esse livro que ele havia lido, resolvi ler também. deve ser um livro bom, mas nao foi pra mim no momento. grato.
July 26, 2016
Este livro é história viva e atual do Brasil, eventos que aconteceram a poucos meses estão aqui relatados de forma impecável e imparcial pelo jornalista Vladimir Netto, todo brasileiro interessado no futuro do país deveria ler este livro. A organização criminosa que se instalou na maior empresa pública do Brasil para literalmente roubar é impressionante. Vou concluir com a última frase do livro: "As mudanças podem acontecer ou não. A escolha está nas mãos dos brasileiros".
February 22, 2018
O livro nos apresenta o caso desde seu início, em crônicas jornalisticas, mas como se estivéssemos lendo um romance de uma aventura policial. O dinamismo e as vezes o absurdo dos fatos temperam de formas por vezes cômicas sem no entanto fazer pouco caso das barbaridades ocorridas. Este livro serve, tanto a quem deseja conhecer ou, para relembrar os fatos em detalhes, quanto apresentação de uma forma suave de narrativa desta situação que poderia ser vista como enfadonha a novos leitores de temas reais.
April 5, 2017
Excelente livro do jornalista Vladimir Neto sobre a Operação Lava Jato, ainda em curso. Fornece detalhes sobre cada fase da Operação desde seu início em Março de 2014 até Abril de 2016. Muito provavelmente o autor deverá lançar um segundo livro sobre o assunto, já que novas fases se sucederam. Recomendo a leitura.
November 19, 2019
Fantastic read.Years of meticulous Investigation that did not hold back on those that were responsible
Super read well researched with a good result at the finish.This is about Brazil but could be any Country in the world
Super read well researched with a good result at the finish.This is about Brazil but could be any Country in the world
October 16, 2016
Excelente registro de informações.
February 15, 2017
Ótimo livro sobre a Lava Jato.
Ajuda a refrescar a memória e entender o trabalho de cada personagem nessa história.
Ajuda a refrescar a memória e entender o trabalho de cada personagem nessa história.
March 5, 2017
Muuto bom para quem não sabia nada da operação. Acho que poderia ter mais detalhes da operação, mas mesmo assim vale bastante a leitura.
June 7, 2017
Leitura fácil e essencial para todos os brasileiros
August 28, 2017
O melhor livro que li em 2016. Excepcional trabalho, de agradabilíssima leitura. Retrato bastante didático de todo o processo da Operação Lava Jato, desde os seus primórdios.
October 2, 2017
Excelente narrativa sobre a investigação e seus principais personagens. vale uma segunda edição pela continuidade da operação.
December 2, 2017
Best book re. to politicians ever!
July 7, 2020
I just finished 'The Mechanism' by Vladimir Netto, a detailed account of the epic 'Lava Jato' (Operation Car Wash) corruption investigation that started in 2014 and continues to convulse Brazilian politics and business to this day.
Overall, it's a readable and instructive guide to a monumental scandal, guiding an uninitiated reader like me through a panoply of compromised politicians, bent construction companies, compromised officials at state energy firm Petrobras and zealous law enforcement and judicial officers focused on uncovering their collective crimes.
Your jaw certainly drops at the scale and sums involved in what was a compliance bingo of antitrust, anti-corruption and AML violations.
Shortcomings? A few - for a start, the story isn't finished. Much of the drama happened after 2016, when the book effectively finishes - so the Appendix feels rushed and unsatisfying. The story of its central protagonist (hero), Judge Sérgio Moro, certainly feels incomplete without even mentioning his ill-starred stint as Bolsonaro's Justice Minister. Perhaps a more definitive account of the latter acts of the drama will follow. On which note, ideally I would like to have seen more of a corporate perspective to complement what is largely a narrative of investigation and political reaction. We get snippets - Odebrecht apparently had a dedicated department for shadow accounting! - but nowhere near enough on how these bribes and this cartel activity were allowed to consume the construction firms, and especially what scale of governance and compliance failings allowed individual department heads in Petrobras - at one brief stage, the world's largest firm by market capitalisation - to orchestrate a system of kickbacks that devastated its revenues for years with impunity, and ultimately help catapault a large country into recession.
Lastly, given those impacts, a little more on how this saga affected and was received in Brazilian society would have been welcome. We frequently hear about protestors on the streets in epic numbers, but don't leave the political and corporate world often enough to understand these impacts and dimensions and gain a more complete view - from my perspective at least.
Overall, it's a readable and instructive guide to a monumental scandal, guiding an uninitiated reader like me through a panoply of compromised politicians, bent construction companies, compromised officials at state energy firm Petrobras and zealous law enforcement and judicial officers focused on uncovering their collective crimes.
Your jaw certainly drops at the scale and sums involved in what was a compliance bingo of antitrust, anti-corruption and AML violations.
Shortcomings? A few - for a start, the story isn't finished. Much of the drama happened after 2016, when the book effectively finishes - so the Appendix feels rushed and unsatisfying. The story of its central protagonist (hero), Judge Sérgio Moro, certainly feels incomplete without even mentioning his ill-starred stint as Bolsonaro's Justice Minister. Perhaps a more definitive account of the latter acts of the drama will follow. On which note, ideally I would like to have seen more of a corporate perspective to complement what is largely a narrative of investigation and political reaction. We get snippets - Odebrecht apparently had a dedicated department for shadow accounting! - but nowhere near enough on how these bribes and this cartel activity were allowed to consume the construction firms, and especially what scale of governance and compliance failings allowed individual department heads in Petrobras - at one brief stage, the world's largest firm by market capitalisation - to orchestrate a system of kickbacks that devastated its revenues for years with impunity, and ultimately help catapault a large country into recession.
Lastly, given those impacts, a little more on how this saga affected and was received in Brazilian society would have been welcome. We frequently hear about protestors on the streets in epic numbers, but don't leave the political and corporate world often enough to understand these impacts and dimensions and gain a more complete view - from my perspective at least.
October 24, 2018
Assunto de extrema importância, mas com leitura tediosa
Acho que o grande mérito deste livro está em organizar a cronologia dos acontecimentos que foram noticiados via imprensa e adicionar mais informações de bastidores. Depois de tantas prisões e fases, a Lava Jato virou algo complicado de compreender o porquê das prisões e lembrar a exata ordem dos fatos.
Concordo com a avaliação de outros leitores: o livro trata com detalhes de um tema super oportuno e acontecimentos sem igual em nossa história moderna, mas é de leitura desinteressante.
Acabei de passar da metade do livro e luto para continuar. Aliás, só cheguei até aqui por causa do tema. Não culpo o autor, pois enfrentei o mesmo problema com outros livros que tratam de escândalos de corrupção nosso país.
Acho que o grande mérito deste livro está em organizar a cronologia dos acontecimentos que foram noticiados via imprensa e adicionar mais informações de bastidores. Depois de tantas prisões e fases, a Lava Jato virou algo complicado de compreender o porquê das prisões e lembrar a exata ordem dos fatos.
Concordo com a avaliação de outros leitores: o livro trata com detalhes de um tema super oportuno e acontecimentos sem igual em nossa história moderna, mas é de leitura desinteressante.
Acabei de passar da metade do livro e luto para continuar. Aliás, só cheguei até aqui por causa do tema. Não culpo o autor, pois enfrentei o mesmo problema com outros livros que tratam de escândalos de corrupção nosso país.
November 4, 2019
Ótimo livro que mostra a dimensão da roubalheira que ocorreu e ocorreu no Brasil, trazendo à tona as provas que muitas vezes são negligenciadas por quem não concorda com a operação.
Por ter sido publicado em 2016 esse livro precisa de um segundo volume para contar tudo que ocorreu desde então. Na minha opinião foi um erro utilizar a foto do juiz Sérgio Moro na capa. Apesar de seu trabalho ter sido fundamental para a lava jato, o livro tem o protagonismo dividido entre o Ministro Teori, o PGR Rodrigo Janot e suas respetivas instituições. Além disso usar a imagem do ministro pode levar pessoas que não concordem com o trabalho do juiz a não ler o livro por achar se tratar de uma biografia, o que não é o caso.
Por ter sido publicado em 2016 esse livro precisa de um segundo volume para contar tudo que ocorreu desde então. Na minha opinião foi um erro utilizar a foto do juiz Sérgio Moro na capa. Apesar de seu trabalho ter sido fundamental para a lava jato, o livro tem o protagonismo dividido entre o Ministro Teori, o PGR Rodrigo Janot e suas respetivas instituições. Além disso usar a imagem do ministro pode levar pessoas que não concordem com o trabalho do juiz a não ler o livro por achar se tratar de uma biografia, o que não é o caso.
August 21, 2022
The book offers an extensive and largely impartial insight into the biggest political and criminal scandal in Brazilian and one of the biggest in world history, the corruption in Brazil's state-owned petroleum & energy mega-company Petrobras.
While I feel well-informed about the investigation into the crimes and the crimes itself, the book often goes into minutiae that could have been left aside or condensed further, in my opinion. This makes, at times, for lengthy paragraphs and a hard read.
Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly applaud the journalistic work that has gone into it and would recommend it to anyone with the desire to delve deeply into the operation Lava Jato.
While I feel well-informed about the investigation into the crimes and the crimes itself, the book often goes into minutiae that could have been left aside or condensed further, in my opinion. This makes, at times, for lengthy paragraphs and a hard read.
Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly applaud the journalistic work that has gone into it and would recommend it to anyone with the desire to delve deeply into the operation Lava Jato.
March 8, 2022
Um relato detalhado da maior operação de combate à corrupção do país. A riqueza de detalhes neste livro é absurda. Se você tem interesse em conhecer mais a fundo sobre esta operação, recomendo a leitura. Uma obra que não só passa o relato, mas abre os olhos dos brasileiros quanto a corrupção no âmbito político. Vale ressaltar que hoje um ex presidiário irá concorrer à presidência, o que é inadmissível, quando comparado a todas as acusações realizadas contra o mesmo.
October 22, 2018
Um thriller emocionante, que prende a nossa atenção do primeiro ao último parágrafo ao longo de suas 400 páginas! E não se trata de um romance de ficção, mas da dura e crua realidade da política e história de nosso país! Uma obra muito bem escrita, uma pesquisa minuciosa e muito bem feita. "Avis rara" na literatura contemporânea de nosso país. Leitura obrigatória.
June 28, 2020
An excellent case study for making rule of law a real thing. Must read for all prospective judges, prosecutors, police officers and... crooks, so that they know that ultimately their place is behind bars. Sergio Moro is my hero, I hope his example will inspire others. As for the write-up, the praise is for Vladimir Netto, first-class journalist, never bull-shitting and keeping the story straight.
May 28, 2023
Quite the story - and non-fiction!
An unbelievable story of government corruption which became ingrained in the Brazilian culture, and fabric of society.
The translation was very good although at times made for a somewhat dry tone.
It would have been nice if photos of the key players on both sides of the investigation had been included.
Recommended.
An unbelievable story of government corruption which became ingrained in the Brazilian culture, and fabric of society.
The translation was very good although at times made for a somewhat dry tone.
It would have been nice if photos of the key players on both sides of the investigation had been included.
Recommended.
November 30, 2024
Independentemente do que se digo em relação ao processo judicial decorrente, o Brasil deu uma parada na corrupção e má gestão. Infelizmente o prévio status quo voltou e com força total. Pode ser até alarmista, mas o comunismo e a um outro tipo de ditadura estão batendo em nossa porta. É só uma questão de tempo.
August 13, 2018
I would say is really specific at the beginning esclarifyn how everything started but at the end when it started to get to more powerful people the facts just get blurred. However a must to read to understant part of the current brasilian politics
February 24, 2019
Livro espetacular, colocando detalhes envolventes e claros, mesmo para aqueles que não estão envolvidos no dia a dia da política.
Agradeço à minha querida irmã, Melissa, por ter me dado este livro e , com ele, a oportunidade de entender um pouco mais o país em que vivemos.
Agradeço à minha querida irmã, Melissa, por ter me dado este livro e , com ele, a oportunidade de entender um pouco mais o país em que vivemos.
February 20, 2021
Interessante pra aprender. Informações muito minuciosas e uma bela aula de jornalismo investigativo. Entretanto, achei a proposta e o tom do livro relativamente enviesados e senti falta de ver mais os dois lados da história, sem contar a construção romantizada do Sergio Moro
November 30, 2022
Notable trabajo periodístico. Entretenido e impactante relato de la profunda corrupción que acosa Brasil. Recomendado para los interesados en asuntos públicos y temas relacionados con crímenes financieros.
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