“…Importantly, we highlight how intraorganizational rules are designed and maintained (a form of second-order corruption) to legitimize malpractice (first-order corruption) within the Courts. Thus, we provide novel perspectives on the concrete ways in which public audit organizations, far from fighting corruption, end up strengthening and supporting it -contributing to the increasing body of research that challenges the traditional view that audit organizations work for the public benefit in curbing corruption (Lassou et al, 2020;Lino & Aquino, 2020;Neu, Everett, Rahaman & Martinez, 2013;Roberts, 2015;Sikka & Lehman, 2015). Third, we present practical implications for improving audit organizations in similar settings, trying to make corruption more visible.…”