Flávio Dino, a justice on Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), on Sunday (23) declared null and void any congressional budget amendment — emendas parlamentares, earmarked funds that lawmakers steer to their home bases — whose allocation was decided by party presidents, former members of Congress or anyone without an elected mandate. According to reports by Poder360 and CartaCapital, the ruling covers any act, spreadsheet, official letter or request attributing earmarking power to party officials, and not even the later endorsement of a sitting deputy or senator can validate an allocation originally made by someone without the legal authority to do so.

“Any act, table, document, communication, spreadsheet, letter or request that seeks to attribute to a political party president or a former lawmaker the authorship, ownership or power to indicate a parliamentary amendment must be considered legally unfit and absolutely null,” Dino wrote in the decision.

Origin of the investigation

The measure stems from investigations into the execution of budget amendments opened with Operation Transparência, launched by the Federal Police in December 2025. According to Poder360, analysis of the mobile phone of Mariângela Fialek, known as Tuca — a Lower House aide linked to the chamber's former speaker, Arthur Lira — pointed investigators to a possible role by the president of the PL party, Valdemar Costa Neto, in directing public funds despite holding no elected office.

In July, the Federal Police flagged 21 amendments totaling R$ 119.2 million under suspicion of Valdemar's influence. The probe also pointed to possible involvement of former deputy Eduardo Cunha. Dino ordered both men's assets frozen as part of the investigation.

The issue gained traction after Valdemar said in a July 14 interview with GloboNews that he makes “suggestions” to PL deputies and senators and that leaders of other parties do the same, according to CartaCapital. Following the statement, Dino demanded explanations from all 21 parties represented in Congress about whether party presidents held reserved amendment quotas. Every party that responded — including the PL — denied that such quotas exist.

Podemos and Solidariedade were the only parties that failed to respond to the court. Dino gave both five business days to provide explanations, under penalty of a daily fine of R$ 100,000. Poder360 said it sought comment from both parties but had received no reply by the time its report was published.

Dino also ordered the heads of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta, and of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre, to notify the technical bodies of both houses that party presidents have no authority to allocate amendments. The parties' statements will be forwarded to the Federal Police to aid the investigations, and the justice warned that failure to comply may lead to disciplinary, criminal and civil liability.