Brazil’s supreme court has ruled that a parliamentary scheme dubbed the “secret budget” — which has been criticised for doling out funds to lawmakers with little oversight in exchange for backing the government — is unconstitutional.
Judges on the country’s highest court voted 6-5 against the mechanism, through which grants were handed out to parliamentarians for projects in their constituencies.
Transparency campaigners have said the opaque practice came to represent around one-quarter of Brazil’s discretionary federal budget, often benefiting allies of outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro. They argued it trampled on principles of democratic accountability, with limited disclosures over how the funds were spent.