Discursive memory and sense-effects in the case of corruption the operation of one-fifth of the gold

This essay presents the partial results of a research study conducted at the Discourse Analysis Research Laboratory (Laboratório de Pesquisa em Análise de Discurso, or LAPADis) on the Operation One-Fifth of the Goldand the interference of this case in the exercise of democracy and in the violation of fundamental human rights. The analysis is founded upon theoretical presuppositions that articulate Memory, Law and Discourse Analysis. The corpus was composed of discursive sequences extracted from journalistic texts published on major online news sites in Brazil, as well as publications about episodes of corruption involving Courts of Accounts, produced by the NGO Brazil Transparency. The results of the analysis point to an excess of memory on corruption at the Courtof Accounts of the State of Rio de Janeiro (in Portuguese, Tribunal de Contas do Estado, or TCE), establishing a parallel between its modus operandi, that is, the way in which it exercises its functions, and the embezzlement practicedby Officials of theFoundry Houses designated by the King duringthe Portuguese colonial rule inBrazil in the first half of the eighteenth century.