São Paulo CEO on ticket scandal: denies taking money, explains Mara row | OneFootball

Mentioned in audio recordings in the scandal involving the illegal sale of suites for a show at Morumbi, which culminated this Monday (15th) in the dismissal of Douglas Schwartzmann, then head of the club’s youth divisions, and Mara Casares, ex-wife of the president and cultural and events director, the CEO of São Paulo, Márcio Carlomagno, clarified some issues regarding the ticket controversy, emphasizing that he never received any money in the case.

Mentioned in the audios released by the portal ‘Globo Esporte‘ of conversations between Mara, Schwartzmann, and the person responsible for reporting the scheme, Carlomagno confirmed in an interview with the website published this Tuesday (16th) that he granted the suite to the cultural director, but was unaware of the commercialization of the space until then.

How it all started

“We granted the suite to the Women’s Directorate, and they had a partnership with one of the people involved to develop projects in the social area. This suite is not for clandestine use, there is nothing clandestine about São Paulo, it’s a suite that has already been used by the family of the Coldplay singer, it’s already been used for photos with Bono Vox (U2’s lead singer), sometimes it’s used for hospitality, and it’s a suite that has no economic value because it has no view,” Carlomagno explained.

“There are suites that have a view and suites that don’t. We use the suites to generate resources. We can sell, use them institutionally, or make exchanges, because we have numerous exchanges to reduce our club’s costs. So we have these three types of negotiations.”

“The marketing department has a map of the entire stadium, and since this suite had no view, when the Women’s Directorate requested it, we assigned the location so they could provide hospitality through the company that is one of the parties in the process. That’s basically it. We became aware that there was commercialization on the day of the show, when a major player in the market had bought it from another agency, and that’s when we started to investigate,” detailed the club’s superintendent.

The strongman of Tricolor said that the controversial suite was immediately closed for any activity at the shows that would follow. The incident in question took place during Colombian singer Shakira’s performance in February this year.

“The first decision was: the use of suite 3A is restricted. We stopped any activity in this suite (for upcoming shows). And we started paying attention to what was unfolding with the two companies, which were in dispute. In the middle of the year, one of the parties filed a lawsuit against the other, and then we began to observe how this process would unfold.”

“My duty is to protect the institution and understand what was in the process. The use of my name in relation to the (phone) call is inappropriate. They use my name inappropriately, that’s a main point. The second is that whoever was on the call needs to explain, but maybe they used my name as a tool of pressure, as happens daily at São Paulo in many cases where my name is used,” he justified.

“It wasn’t Márcio who granted it to Mara, the Presidency granted it to the Women’s Directorate. They made a request, explained how they would use the suite, and we thought it was appropriate, as it was something to develop the social area.”

And the money?

Asked if he received any amount for the improper sale of the space at Morumbi, Carlomagno was emphatic in denying it and said he only gained problems to solve.

“No, not at all. I didn’t make any money. The only thing I got was a big problem for us to solve. I think even the investigation that was launched is exactly for that. To understand what ‘everyone won’ means. I don’t know what that is. São Paulo needs to understand if someone gained, if someone lost. That’s the main point of his audio. But I have no financial relationship with this process,” he stated.

“After the Shakira show, these people no longer operated here. That’s the first point. And not before either. There was no granting either to Adriana or to the Women’s Directorate to bring in partners. That didn’t happen. This was the only show for which they requested (the suite). The investigation is specific to this event. But I don’t know. If something is found in the meantime, it will probably have further developments,” concluded the CEO of the Morumbi club.

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