Brasília, April 7, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - By the end of July, the General Controller's Office of the Union (CGU) will present a personal assets probe model to investigate misappropriation of public funds on the basis of visible signs of wealth incompatible with the salaries of civil servants. With this measure, the government hopes to combat corruption in all ranks of federal public administration in Brazil, as part of the strategy to prevent money-laundering.

Monitoring the evolution of personal assets is one of the 32 goals of the National Strategy to Combat Money-Laundering, defined in December, 2003, by representatives of the organs that deal with this type of crime.

Yesterday (6), members of the integrated management cabinet, formed to coordinate the activities of the Executive, Judiciary, Public Prosecutors' Office, and General Accounting Office in this area, met in the Ministry of Justice to assess the results of the targets that were set. According to the General Sub-controller of the Union, Jorge Hage, the expectation is for the personal assets probe system to be in full operation by the end of the year.

Translator: David Silberstein