Premio a la Mejor Investigación Periodística de un Caso de Corrupción en América Latina y el Caribe 2008

 

BRAZIL AND COSTA RICA JOURNALISTS AWARDED LEADING LATIN AMERICAN PRIZE FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

Articles reveal cases of public corruption
and the management of illicit accounts within the Catholic Church

Arriba, miembros del jurado: Gustavo Gorriti, Gerardo Reyes y Mike Reid, con los ganadores del Premio: Ernesto Rivera y Giannina Segnini, del diario La Nación de Costa Rica; y Daniela Arbex, Táscia Souza y Ricardo Miranda, del diario Tribunas do Minas, de Brasil

Berlin / Lima, 17 August 2009 – Two series of reports that expose public corruption in Brazil and the management of illicit accounts within the Catholic Church in Costa Rica have been awarded the Prize to the Best Journalistic Investigation of a Case of Corruption In Latin America and the Caribbean, 2008 edition, organized every year by Transparency International (TI) and Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS).

The 25,000 dollars prize was awarded to Daniela Arbex, Táscia Souza and Ricardo Miranda of the Brazilian newspaper Tribunas do Minas; and Ernesto Rivera and Giannina Segnini of Costa Rica’s newspaper La Nación, who shared the first place after competing against 189 entries from 19 countries.

Through their investigation Arbex, Souza and Miranda revealed the corruption scheme that favored with public contracts a construction company, property of a powerful municipal official of the State of Minas Gerais, in southeastern Brazil (download report).

Rivera and Segnini’s series of reports exposed the Catholic Church’s illegal financial operations in Costa Rica (download report).

Both investigations were decisive in getting those implied to resign their positions and in the opening of legal proceedings against them.

IPYS executive director, Ricardo Uceda, emphasized that this is the first time the prize has been awarded to journalists who work for a provincial newspaper, as is the case with Tribunas do Minas in Brazil.

“This goes to show that investigative excellence does not necessarily go hand in hand with large financial resources”, he commented.

“These investigations open doors, putting an end to the culture of secrecy and favoring an atmosphere of responsibility that not only helps to prevent corruption but also promotes the demand for transparency among the public”, declared Alejandro Salas, Regional Director for Transparency International in the Americas.

The jury awarded a second place prize of 5,000 dollars to Santiago Fascetto, of Panamá’s newspaper La Prensa, for revealing irregular payments made to that country’s former president, Martín Torrijos, as the result of a secret contract with the government of República Dominicana (download report).

A third prize, also of 5,000 dollars, was awarded to Jorge Antonio Ávalos of El Salvador’s the newspaper Diario de Hoy, for a series of reports called “Serie Polémica Récord” about false accusations of causing environmental damage made against a battery recycling factory (download report).

Another ten reports from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, México, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Perú and Venezuela received special mentions (more information).

The reports presented during the last seven years have dealt mainly with investigations about corruption in the public sector (53,8 percent), while those that dealt with organized crime and financial issues have represented only 8 and 2,6 percent respectively.

Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and México are the countries with the highest number of entries in the history of the prize.

Note for editors

The IPYS/TILAC Prize is a yearly award for journalists who, with their investigations, show the effects of corruption and its causes, and raise awareness about these issues among the public. It awards 25,000 dollars to the first place and 5,000 to the second and third. The award is sponsored by the Open Society Institute and the jury is made up by Tina Rosenberg (The New York Times), Mike Reid (The Economist), Marcelo Beraba (Folha de S. Paulo), Gustavo Gorriti (Caretas), and Gerardo Reyes (El Nuevo Herald).

More information about the Prize: » Previous winner, jury, terms and conditions.

###

Contacts for the media:

Lima:
Instituto Prensa y Sociedad
Ricardo Uceda, Executive Director
dir@ipys.org
Phone: +511 247 3308

Berlín:
Transparency International
Gypsy Guillén Kaiser
ggkaiser@transparency.org
Phone:.+49 30 343820 662