Like many ‘free’ yet developing countries, Brazil has recently grappled with corruption issues. The most recent incidents come from the rule of current presidential leader Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva. Incidents of corruption within the government were relatively quiet from 1994 to 2002 when Fernando Henrique Cardoso was the President of Brazil. After da Silva took office, there was some success in improving the country’s poor economic situation but scandal has tainted the da Silva presidency. The first reported scandals occurred in 2007 when it was discovered that da Silva had been buying votes for his presidential bids. Additionally, a “bloodsucker” scandal reportedly occurred where government officials were selling overpriced ambulances to municipalities. Within the government, 91 members of congress were accused of corruption but only 4 were expelled after their terms had ended. In 2007 an undercover operation ensued, “Operation Razor”, which resulted in the arrests of 46 individuals for accepting kickbacks for public works contracts. Only days after these arrests, one of da Silva’s cabinet members was forced to resign after it was confirmed by federal surveillance that he had accepted a bribe from a major building contractor (Freedom House 2008).