STF Rules Party Presidents' Indicated Budget Amendments Invalid

Overview

• On Sunday, August 23, STF minister Flávio Dino ordered that any parliamentary emenda attributed to, indicated by, or controlled by party presidents or ex-parliamentarians be treated as legally null and cannot justify public spending.
• Dino directed that documents parties sent to the court be forwarded to the Federal Police and ordered the presidents of the Chamber and the Senate to tell technical areas to disallow planilhas, ofícios, tabelas or other papers that assign emenda indication to non-elected party figures.
• The measure builds on Operation Transparência, which identified 21 suspect emendas totaling about R$119.2 million linked to PL president Valdemar da Costa Neto and flagged possible involvement of ex-deputy Eduardo Cunha, whose assets were previously frozen by Dino.
• Nineteen parties replied to the STF saying their presidents lack 'cotas' or formal powers to allocate emendas; Solidariedade has since submitted a response saying its president acted only as an elected deputy and Podemos later filed a reply saying an earlier delay was a procedural mistake.
• The ruling raises the prospect of disciplinary, civil and criminal accountability for improper indications, is likely to change how Congress processes discretionary budget amendments, and could slow execution of disputed projects while investigations continue.