Scrutiny of govt accounts to be held by full Congress

Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso has ruled that the government accounts should be scrutinized by the two houses of the National Congress jointly, rather than separately by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Barroso denied an injunction sought by the head of the Joint Budget Committee, Senator Rose de Freitas, to revoke the Chamber of Deputies vote on August 6 that approved the accounts of the administrations of former presidents Itamar Franco, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The senator had argued that pursuant to Article 49 of the Constitution, reviewing the government accounts is a role of the Congress as a single institution rather than of each of its houses separately.

However, the justice found that separate house reviews have been common practice since the Constitution was enacted in 1988 and decided to uphold the Deputies' approval. His ruling requiring joint reviews will apply to future scrutiny practice only.

Translated by Mayra Borges

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