Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino said on Monday (24) that congressional budget amendments, a mechanism that lets Brazilian federal lawmakers direct public funds to projects of their choice, are today the "biggest vector of corruption" in the country. He made the remark while speaking remotely at an event of the Money Laundering Study Group at the University of São Paulo (USP) Law School, according to reporting by Folha de S.Paulo.
Dino traced the problem to the loosening of fiscal rules during the Covid-19 pandemic. "The idea of a new budget emerged, what was called the war budget. A rule that allowed the removal of practically all fiscal limits. It is something to be studied: how quickly criminal enterprises formed inside it," he said, according to Folha.
In Dino's assessment, the amendments drifted from their goal of improving "national and regional public policies" and came to serve "private and electoral interests, often involving corruption schemes and the diversion of public funds on a national scale."
The Supreme Court case
The remarks come as Dino acts as rapporteur of ADPF 854, a case before the court that deals with the expansion of so-called rapporteur amendments, known as RP9. He inherited the case after Justice Rosa Weber retired and has ordered the blocking and return of funds, a stance that has raised tensions between the judiciary and Congress.
On Sunday (23), Dino declared the absolute nullity of amendment transfers indicated by party presidents and by politicians who do not hold an elected mandate. The suspicions under investigation involve the president of the Liberal Party (PL), Valdemar Costa Neto, and former federal deputy Eduardo Cunha (Republicanos), who currently holds no seat in Congress, among other names, according to Folha. Also on Monday, the Podemos and Solidariedade parties denied to the court any interference by party leaders in the allocation of amendments, responding to Dino's order that party presidents explain whether "quotas" exist for distributing the funds, according to O Globo and CNN Brasil.
The lecture, titled "Crime, State and Market," featured professors Renato de Mello de Jorge Silveira and Pierpaolo Cruz Bottini and the school's director, Ana Elisa Bechara. Dino said the theme is relevant because those categories have never been so "amalgamated."