The meeting of the Corinthians Deliberative Council that would vote on the impeachment of President Augusto Melo was suspended by a court decision. An injunction obtained by the director interrupted the meeting at the club’s headquarters, in Parque São Jorge, in the early evening of Monday (2).
The strike was announced by the president of the Council, Romeu Tuma Júnior, Melo’s opponent. He was the one who called the extraordinary meeting, initially scheduled for last Thursday (28) and rescheduled for security reasons. Which was greatly reinforced this Monday, with 480 police officers on the job.
There were thousands of Corinthians fans outside the club, demonstrating against impeachment on Rua São Jorge. They were kept on the other side of the sidewalk, with banners saying “there will be no coup” and shouts along the lines of “if the impeachment is approved, hello, hello, hello, the stick will break”. When news of the injunction broke, the chant “it’s a party in the favela” broke out.
Melo celebrated with the fans, relieved, although aware that his political situation is not easy. He lives with multiple complaints and, although he currently has the support of a large part of the fans, he is already the target of another request for offside, potentially more dangerous than the one avoided now.
What would be voted on this Monday, filed by a group of 90 councilors, lists what are called “multiple irregularities”. But the main ones are related to commissions paid when signing, at the beginning of the year, the sponsorship contract with the sports betting company VaideBet.
The impeachment recommendation filed by Cori (Guidance Council), accepted by the Council last week, has a different content. Cori – a supervisory body made up of former presidents and life members – argues that audited balance sheets and other documents that should have been submitted were not presented. The balance sheet for the second quarter was rejected, and the request for impediment was formalized.
Therefore, partying with the fans aside, Augusto treated the day’s victory with caution. It at least allows Corinthians to finish the Brazilian Championship with some peace of mind – the team will still play on Tuesday (3), against Bahia, at the Itaquera stadium, and on Sunday (8), against Grêmio, at Arena do Grêmio– , but the problems did not disappear with the injunction.
The vote itself, suspended, can still take place. And it is based on a complaint regarding the payment of R$25.2 million, as an intermediation commission for the agreement with VaideBet, to the Social Media Design Network, which belongs to Alex Fernando André, Alex Cassundé, who worked on Augusto’s campaign. This company passed on part of the commission to Neoway Soluções Integradas em Serviços, registered in the name of Edna Oliveira dos Santos, a woman who lives in a humble residence in Peruíbe and did not even know the company existed.
In June, the betting site announced the unilateral termination of the agreement, as its image was damaged by the case. At the time, in a statement, Corinthians stated that “all negotiations, including sponsorships, took place legally with regularly constituted companies”. “The club emphasizes that it is not responsible for possible transfers of values to third parties”, said the text.
“Corinthians is a victim”, said Augusto, in July, in an interview with Sheet. “From the beginning, I have always made myself available. As president, what I want is to clarify as quickly as possible, especially because Corinthians is a victim. From the moment you have an intermediary who does something, from then on other than what he does is his problem.”
The club replaced VaideBet with another online betting company, Esportes da Sorte – also involved in a police investigation, which targets an alleged criminal organization focused on illegal gambling and money laundering. The company is responsible for paying the majority of Dutch striker Memphis Depay’s contract.
With media support and the arrival of other good players in the middle of the season, the black and white team left the relegation zone of the Brazilian Championship and, on a run with seven consecutive victories, entered the classification zone for the next Copa Libertadores. This minimized the pressure from the fans, but did not reduce the temperature in the Parque São Jorge boulevards.
Thus, after months of sitting on the case files – the Council’s Ethics Committee even recommended, in October, the suspension of the impeachment process until the conclusion of the police investigation, an argument cited by Augusto in the injunction request –, Romeu Tuma Júnior marked the vote was blocked at the last minute.
