D-day for integrity: Ethics Council to rule on fate of box scandal accused | OneFootball

The Ethics Committee of São Paulo will hold a hearing this Monday (23) to judge former directors Mara Casares and Douglas Schwartzmann, who were removed from their positions after being caught in a leaked audio negotiating the sale of an institutional box at Morumbi for a concert by Colombian singer Shakira in March of last year.

The committee will decide whether the two accused, who are now also being investigated by the Civil Police and the State Public Prosecutor's Office, violated the club's internal rules as outlined in the Statute. If convicted, they could even be expelled from the membership.

As AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR found out over the course of this Sunday (22), the tendency is exactly that this will happen. Pressured by fans and members, who even held a 'pizza party' inside the club as a form of protest (recall by clicking here), even members of the body close to the duo have been announcing a favorable vote for expulsion.

Of the five members of the committee, three have already publicly expressed support for punishing Douglas and Mara.

The pressure from opposition councilors of former president Julio Casares is for the maximum punishment, that is, expulsion from the club. There is a fear that the 'pizza', in this case, will result in light penalties.

"We are very attentive. I don't doubt it will be something just for show. It's the D-day of São Paulo's morality," said a councilor heard by the report.

THE ACCUSED

Mara is no longer part of São Paulo's political life. Besides the position of events director, she also resigned from her seat on the Deliberative Council. Schwartzmann, former base director, left the administrative position but remained as a councilor.

The ex-wife of former president Julio Casares is the one facing the most problems with police investigations. At the end of last month, a notebook seized at the home of Rita de Cássia Adriana Prado, one of the protagonists of the scandal, gave new contours to the authorities.

Although the content is under secrecy, investigators point out that the notes would help detail the operation of the scheme and indicate that at least one São Paulo box was systematically diverted.

The operation was conducted by the 3rd Police Station for Investigations on Criminal Dismantling (Dicca) and also targeted Schwartzmann, former deputy director of the youth categories, and Mara Casares, ex-wife of former president Júlio Casares and then female, cultural, and events director.

The seized notebook would provide more elements about the mechanism that supported the scheme, which may have lasted longer than initially supposed. "The collected documents allow us to visualize the seriousness of the facts and their extent, including the temporal scope, much longer than imagined," said prosecutor José Reinaldo Carneiro Guimarães, emphasizing that the investigation is not yet concluded.

At Mara's residence, the police also seized R$ 28,000 in cash and a computer, as well as documents considered important for the progress of the inquiry. In a statement, São Paulo declared that "it is a victim in this case and will contribute to the authorities in the investigation."

Meanwhile, the newspaper 'O Estado de S. Paulo' found that the dealings involving Adriana and Mara at the club have been happening at least since 2023.

Currently on leave from the board, Mara would have acted in partnership with Adriana in brokering the sale of spaces and tickets for games and concerts at Morumbi, as well as other São Paulo events.

Mara's defense claims that she maintains unrestricted cooperation with the authorities and that the integrity of her actions will be proven.

The timeline outlined by the police and the Public Prosecutor's Office indicates that the joint action of the two was not limited to box 3A at the Shakira concert mentioned in the audio released in December.

Sources heard by the newspaper report Adriana's presence as an intermediary as early as 2022. Adriana herself has exchanges of messages and emails with club directors and would have sought Casares' opponents to negotiate the material.

THE CASE

Mara was caught along with Schwartzmann in a controversy over the transfer of a space in the tricolor stadium for a concert by Colombian singer Shakira in March. Both were caught in phone recordings made by the whistleblower, who felt wronged after claiming "to have been robbed" by a fourth party involved.

Mara's leave, however, was at an opportune moment for the Casares administration. It happened a day after the approval of São Paulo's budget for 2026, in which she voted approving the accounts proposed by her ex-husband.

Although now on leave, Mara will continue to be investigated in the case on two fronts.

In the first, she will be the target of a police inquiry initiated at the behest of the São Paulo State Public Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutor José Reinaldo Guimarães Carneiro, from the MP-SP's Tourism and Sports Commission, saw clear indications of crimes that do involve São Paulo and not just in the consumer relationship between the other parties involved.

"The first crime is private sports corruption, which is a crime provided for in the new General Sports Law, in effect since 2023. This crime, in fact, presupposes the manipulation of private interests to the detriment of the club's assets, the associations," said Carneiro.

"And a second crime, which is also very serious, is coercion during the process. Because calling someone and intimidating them to withdraw a process under the threat that things will gain repercussions, as the recordings suggest, is an indication of a crime," the prosecutor added.

The Public Prosecutor's suggestion is that the three involved in the audio (Douglas Schwartzmann, Mara Casares, and the whistleblower) and all those mentioned, including Marcio Carlomagno, São Paulo's general superintendent, be heard.

"All the money collected by an association, whether in a sports venue due to football or other sports activities, must revert to the club. And not for the favoring of private interests of those who should manage the club. The police will take the next steps," he said.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.