Two rulings by Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino, made public on Friday and Sunday, target the misuse of congressional budgetary grants — the slices of the federal budget that lawmakers control.
Dino suspended a tranche of congressional budgetary grants and ordered the freezing of up to BRL 119.2 million (USD 23.3m) in assets belonging to Valdemar Costa Neto, the chairman of the far-right Liberal Party (PL).
The justice also froze BRL 6 million from Eduardo Cunha, a former House speaker, stripped of his seat in 2016 for lying to a congressional inquiry about accounts abroad, who is now seeking a comeback.
Both decisions were signed on July 6 and rest on the same premise. Earmarking grants is a prerogative of sitting congressmen and senators. Neither Costa Neto nor Cunha currently holds an elected office.
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