Patricia Moreira

Patricia Moreira
Patricia Moreira at the Future Against Corruption Award Ceremony
Nationality	Spanish-Brazilian
Alma mater	University of California INSEAD
Occupation	Managing director

Patricia Moreira was the managing director of the international secretariat of Transparency International, an organization that campaigns against corruption, between October 2017 and February 2020.

Early life and education[]

Moreira is Spanish-Brazilian.^[1] She has a BA in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, an MBA from INSEAD, France, and conducted PhD research in Social Entrepreneurship at ICADE University in Madrid.^[2]

Career[]

Moreira worked as a management consultant for Juárez & Associates and Arthur D. Little for ten years, and then for the Spanish aid organisation , rising to the position of director general.^[2][3] She was CEO of Ayuda en Acción from 2009.^[1]

In October 2017, she succeeded Cobus de Swardt as head of Transparency International.^[2]

Moreira was a board member of the United Nations Global Compact^[4] and a Council representative on the International Land Coalition.^[5] In 2018 she spoke at the 18th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, arguing that "corruption hits most the poor who suffer the consequences of corrupt regimes."^[6][7] In 2019, she admonished Western banks for facilitating corruption in Gambia.^[8][9]

In 2019 she argued that citizen's rights and democratic institutions were threatened by the trend for more authoritarian and populist regimes across the world which should be resisted by greater checks and balances.^[10]

Controversy with Transparency International[]

Moreira was dismissed in 2020 after becoming the second successive Managing Director of Transparency International, following Cobus de Swardt, to accuse the organisation's Board of Directors of corrupt decision-making and failing to protect whistleblowers.^{[11] [12]}

In June 2020, The Guardian reported that Moreira had made a complaint of bullying against the Board of Transparency International and had subsequently been dismissed. She was reportedly planning to sue Transparency International, claiming she had been unfairly dismissed in retaliation for her complaints.^[13]

Moreira has persistently alleged that her complaints have not been investigated. In public letters to the organisation’s Annual Membership Meetings in 2020 and 2021, she argued that this “runs contrary to the principles of accountability and transparency which TI itself exists to serve”.^[14]

In August 2019, The Guardian had reported on how current and former staff members of Transparency International had said that under Moreira it had promoted a culture of "bullying" and "failed in its duty of care" and used "gagging orders" in termination agreements.^[15]

Two investigations followed, conducted by law firm Taylor Wessing and Transparency International's Ethics Panel which cleared Moreira of the charges but contained some criticism of management decisions.^[16] The negative findings were disputed by Moreira,^[17] who claimed that she was not given the chance to respond to allegations. Following a legal complaint from Moreira, Transparency International withdrew publication of the reports, replacing them with a five-paragraph summary.^[18]

She was the second managing director of Transparency International's secretariat in a row to leave after a dispute with the organisation's Board, following the departure of Cobus de Swardt in 2017. De Swart agreed a settlement with a Transparency International in a Labour Court in Berlin.^[19] In 2021, de Swart would publish a book accusing Transparency International of abuse of power and silencing whistleblowers.

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Patricia Moreira at Wikimedia Commons