Court decides: subsidies will remain suspended.

247 - The full bench of the Court of Justice of Sergipe decided this Wednesday (11), unanimously, to maintain the law on subsidies suspended. All judges followed the decision of the reporting judge of the process, Cezário Siqueira Neto, who had already decided to suspend the effectiveness of law nº 5.210/2003. With this, the use of the funds, which became the target of lawsuits due to suspicions of irregularities, cannot be made. Until there is a decision on the merits, the Legislative Assembly will remain unable to distribute these resources, amounting to R$ 36 million. Under the traditional procedure, each deputy chooses the entities to which they will allocate R$ 1,5 million.

“The judges followed the rapporteur's vote and granted the precautionary measure in the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI). Therefore, the process will proceed to the instruction phase where the Legislative Assembly and Governor Jackson Barreto, who is the one who sanctions the laws, will be summoned to provide clarifications to the Court. After that, the process may return to the full court for a vote on the merits and to decide whether the law is unconstitutional. It is important to remember that an appeal is still possible,” explained Luciano Araújo, from the TJ's communications office, to G1.

According to the reporting judge, there is a possible usurpation of administrative functions by the Legislative branch, since it not only approves social funds through the Budget Law, but also engages in administrative activity when dealing with registration, enrollment, and the release of funds.
“The presence of a prima facie case is evident in the legal provisions that allow the Legislative Branch to exercise the functions of the Executive Branch through administrative management practices, creating administrative financial obligations without assessing budgetary revenues to be executed by the Legislative Branch itself. In summary, it appears that the normative instrument authorizes the Legislative Branch to administer, violating the harmony and independence that should exist between the branches of government,” explained Cezário.

The magistrate further added that "it cannot be forgotten that, in the present case, several news articles were published, reporting on the investigation into possible irregularities in the transfer of these public funds, constituting a misuse of a large sum and justifying the suspension of the effectiveness of the regulatory acts."

The Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) currently being processed in the Court of Justice was requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Sergipe and deals only with the law. In the Regional Electoral Court (TRE), another 24 lawsuits are being processed against 23 state deputies and a president of a social association. They are being sued for conduct prohibited to public officials because the subsidy funds were transferred in 2014, an election year.