Less than a month before the election that will define the command of the FPF (São Paulo Football Federation), the entity’s president, Reinaldo Carneiro Bastos, became the target of an investigation initiated by the Public Ministry of São Paulo (MP-SP) and conducted by the police to investigate suspicions of fraudulent management, ideological falsehood and possible money laundering.
The case’s starting point is a criminal report sent by prosecutors Beatriz Lotufo Oliveira and Júlio César Matias Soares, who identified what they classify as “a huge development of assets without any backing” on the part of the leader. The column tried to contact the Federation, but without success.
According to the document, attached to the investigation request and obtained by the column, the investigation involves infractions provided for in the Law on Crimes against the National Financial System and may also involve crimes against the tax system. The FPF appears to be the victim of alleged irregularities.
Investigators point out that the assets of Reinaldo and his family expanded rapidly, with the acquisition of dozens of properties registered in registry offices in different cities — the majority in Taubaté, where companies linked to the family are also concentrated. The authorities also identified successive corporate changes, creation of holding companies and participation of close relatives in management.
One of the points considered most sensitive is the sale, in 2021, of the FPF president’s stake in Milclean Serviços Ltda., a cleaning and conservation company. The operation was recorded for the value of R$15.5 million, of which around R$11.5 million would have been paid in cash. For the promoters, this form of payment “constitutes an atypical circumstance and is incompatible with ordinary commercial practices” and requires investigation into the origin of the funds.
The inquiry was filed at the 23rd Police District of Perdizes on January 23 and forwarded to the Capital Judicial Police Department for the due diligence phase, in which the financial data and the evolution of assets attributed to the leader will be compared.
The opening of the investigation takes place in the middle of the federation’s electoral calendar. The entity will choose its new president on March 25, and Reinaldo is seeking his fourth and final term since taking command in 2015, when he succeeded Marco Polo Del Nero, then elected to the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation).
com DIEGO ALEJANDRO e KARINA MATIAS
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