The Deliberative Council meeting in Parque São Jorge could remove the president this Monday
The Deliberative Council of Corinthians will meet this Monday, the 20th, to vote on the impeachment of the president Augusto Melo. The meeting takes place at the club’s headquarters, in Parque São Jorge, with calls at 6pm and 7pm. The alleged omission of the representative in irregularities in the agreement with the former sponsor will be analysed Go to Betwhich ended up becoming a police case and generating a crisis behind the scenes. The defense is still trying to annul the vote and does not rule out taking the case to Brasilia.
The meeting was convened last Monday by Romeu Tuma Júnior, president of the Deliberative Council. It is the third appointment scheduled to discuss the topic. The vote was initially supposed to be held on November 28, but was rescheduled after authorities reported a lack of security at the site. The members met again on December 2, but Augusto Melo managed to suspend the vote with an injunction, which was annulled ten days later by the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP).
For the impeachment trial to move forward, a simple majority of the 302-member council must vote in favor of dismissal. In this scenario, whoever would take command is Osmar Stabilefirst vice president. He will have up to five days to convene the General Assembly of members for a final vote, and 30 to 60 days to set the date of the vote. In other words, the partners will decide whether the president will leave permanently or not.
For Augusto Melo, the impeachment vote violates the Statute of Corinth. This is because the Ethics and Discipline Commission recommended the suspension of voting until the end of the session Civil Police investigations into the Vai de Bet case. The investigations are in their final phase and members of the Juventus board of directors should be heard in the coming months.
Article 106 of the Corinthian Statute cites the following elements as reasons for the impeachment inquiry:
- a) having committed a shameful crime, with a sentence that has become final and unappealable;
- b) having caused, by action or omission, considerable damage to the assets or image of Corinthians;
- c) the management accounts have not been approved;
- d) having violated, through an action or omission, an express provision of the law;
- e) irregular or imprudent management practice.
People connected to the club interviewed by Estadao understand that there is a good chance that the impeachment trial will move forward. However, there is doubt whether the dismissal would be approved by the partners. Augusto Melo, for his part, is confident that he will not be removed. If this happens, the representative believes he is fully capable of reversing the situation at the General Assembly of members.
The support he receives from the club’s organisations, in particular from Gaviões da Fiel, weighs in Augusto Melo’s favour. On the day of the vote suspended by the president’s injunction, several deputies in uniform showed up at the entrance of Parque São Jorge to protest against the assembly. Chanting “there will be no coup”, fans burned photos of former club presidents, such as Andrés Sánchez, Duílio Monteiro Alves and Mário Gobbi, and greeted Augusto as he left the pitch.
Augusto Melo’s defense claims that the trial the president is going through is fragile and is taking place in a haphazard manner. “Augusto is not opposed to any form of investigation, trial or trial. The only thing the president wants is a fair trial, with the possibility of producing evidence and being heard”, comments Ricardo Cury, lawyer for the president of Corinthian.
“We are talking about a serious case. Augusto could be dismissed this Monday without having the opportunity to express himself. He did not have the opportunity to express himself before the Ethics Committee, the Deliberative Council, the Civil Police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office”, he adds.
How did Augusto Melo become the target of Corinthians’ impeachment?
The impeachment trial of Augusto Melo began in August 2024. The Justice Commission produced a report in which it denounced irregularities on the part of the current administration, especially in the “orange” case relating to the contract with Vai de Bet. Six other names were also subject to internal investigation: Armando Mendonça (second vice-president and member of the opposition), Marcelo Mariano (administrative director, away for the last week), Rubao (former sports director), Rozallah Santoro (former finance director), Yun Ki Lee (former legal director) e Fernando Perino (former deputy legal director). The last four resigned shortly after the Vai de Bet case came to light.
Subsequently, a group of 85 councilors called the SCCP Reconstruction Movement, one of whose leaders is former president Mário Gobbi, filed a complaint against the current president. The document was attached to the report of the Justice Committee and transmitted by the Deliberative Council, chaired by Romeu Tuma Jr, to the Ethics Committee, which does not produce evidence and suggests the suspension of Augusto Melo’s impeachment trial as it considers it reasonable to wait for the investigations of the Civil Police .
The opinion is articulated in the Deliberative Council by Romeu Tuma, the cases of the other six members are retransmitted to the Ethics Council, while Augusto’s is submitted to the Council for judgment. It was then that the president’s defense appealed to the Court to quash the request for an impeachment vote because they believed that the president did not have the right to adequately defend himself.
Augusto Melo’s defense presented a request for the vote to be declared null and void to the IV Civil Court of the Tatuapé Forumbut the action was rejected by judge Erasmo Samuel Tozetto on 2 December, the day of the meeting at the club’s headquarters. The judge understood that the matter should be resolved internally by Corinthians itself. The defense appealed to the eighth section of the TJ-SP and, on the same date, judge Clara Maria Araújo Xavier granted the suspensive effect to the president of Corinthian, who exhibited the document in Parque São Jorge when the councilors were already meeting to vote on the dismissal.
The Deliberative Council, represented by president Romeu Tuma, lodged an internal appeal and the trial took place virtually, despite the defense having opposed the procedure, and, on 12 December, the suspensive effect was cancelled. A new appeal was presented by Augusto Melo’s lawyer to the same Chamber requesting the annulment of the trial. The idea is to bring the issue to the federal level in case the president is impeached by advisors.
Understanding the Vai de Bet case
Vai de Bet’s R$360 million agreement with Corinthians, unilaterally terminated by the bookmaker in June, provided for the payment of 7% of the net amount of each installment to Rede Media Social Ltda. In other words, R$700,000 per month for three years, for a total of R$25.2 million at the end of the contract. Mentioned in the contract as an intermediary for the business, the company has a CNPJ in the name of Alex Cassundé, former member of president Augusto Melo’s communications team.
The termination by Vai de Bet occurred after the transfer of part of the commission from Rede Media Social Ltda to Neoway Soluções Integradas em Serviços Ltda, a supposed “orange” company whose CNPJ is registered in the name of Edna Oliveira dos Santos, a woman of humble city of Peruíbe, on the coast of São Paulo.
The Civil Police, through the Citizen Protection Police Department (DPPC), is still investigating the case and is expected to hear new witnesses in the coming weeks. The tendency is for Corinthians members to be heard only in the final part of the investigations. Police officers are still waiting for information on the financial data requested in violation of banking secrecy, which has hindered the progress of the case.
On Thursday 16th the administrative director Marcelo Mariano resigned from his position. In interviews by the Civil Police, members of Vai de Bet declared that they did not know Alex Cassundé and claimed that the director, considered Augusto Melo’s right-hand man, was present in the negotiation that sealed the bookmaker’s agreement with Corinthians. To the police, Cassundé declared that his connection to the club was through Marcelo Mariano and former marketing superintendent Sérgio Moura, who left the club last year.
Source: Terra
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