Brazil Supreme Court Freezes Eduardo Cunha Assets Over Amendment Claims

Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has frozen up to R$6 million in assets belonging to Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, after investigators found indications that he may have used an allied congressman to influence the destination of public funds despite holding no elected office since 2016.

The order was issued by Justice Flávio Dino, according to O Globo. It relies on a Federal Police investigation into suspected diversion of congressional amendments from the Chamber’s Health Committee. Dino also immediately suspended the execution of public spending tied to the amendments under suspicion.

Congressional amendments are budget tools that allow Brazilian lawmakers to direct federal funds to projects, municipalities or institutions. They have become one of the most politically sensitive parts of Brazil’s budget system, especially after investigations into the so-called “secret budget,” a mechanism criticized for poor transparency in the distribution of public money.

The case centers on messages taken from the phone of Mariângela Fialek, known as Tuca, a Chamber of Deputies employee described by investigators as an operator in an alleged scheme to manipulate parliamentary amendments. According to the decision, Federal Police found conversations suggesting that Cunha discussed amendments with Tuca while another lawmaker, Representative Gilberto Abramo of Republicanos in Minas Gerais, appeared formally linked to them.

One exchange cited by investigators reportedly took place on September 12, 2025. In it, Cunha referred to amendments for Manhuaçu, a municipality in Minas Gerais, and complained that local political opponents were saying the funds came from Representative Nikolas Ferreira of the Liberal Party rather than from Abramo, his ally. Cunha asked Tuca for an official letter from Abramo stating that the amendment was authored by him.

Dino wrote that the situation was unusual because an amendment supposedly belonging to Abramo appeared to be handled by Cunha and Tuca, not by the lawmaker formally associated with it. The justice said the evidence found on Tuca’s phone indicated that the amendments were Cunha’s nominations and that naming other lawmakers as requesters would worsen the alleged fraud in the routing and diversion of resources.

Cunha’s defense denied that he had exercised what it called a “clandestine mandate” and said he did not formally participate in presenting the amendments under investigation. Cunha said he would challenge the Supreme Court decision. O Globo said Abramo had not responded by the time of publication.

This is single-source reporting based on O Globo’s account of the Supreme Court decision and the Federal Police findings cited in it. The investigation is part of Operation Transparency, a broader inquiry into alleged irregularities in the distribution of congressional amendments linked to the “secret budget.” On Friday, the same line of inquiry had already led to the freezing of up to R$119 million in assets belonging to Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the Liberal Party.