Andrés Sanchez’s defence says Public Prosecutor’s charges are over the top | OneFootball

The defense of former Corinthians president Andrés Sanchez spoke out on Wednesday after the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office charged him over improper expenses made with the club’s corporate cards from August 2018 to December 2020.

The attorney for former president Andrés Sanchez, Fernando José da Costa, saw “excess” in the MP-SP’s complaint and reiterated his client’s innocence. Sanchez recently reimbursed Corinthians R$ 15,000 for expenses on trips to Tibau do Sul, in Rio Grande do Norte, and Fernando de Noronha.

“The defense of Andrés Navarro Sanchez, represented by attorney Fernando José da Costa, informs that it was surprised by the filing of a complaint submitted separately, without being attached to the investigative procedure to which it has access. The content of the accusation only became known after a press conference called by the responsible prosecutor, who announced the complaint for alleged offenses of embezzlement, tax crimes, and money laundering. The defense emphasizes, from the outset, the ineptitude of the accusatory pleading and the evident excess in the charges, reiterating that Andrés’s innocence will be proven throughout the proceedings, now overseen by the impartial Judiciary,” wrote Andrés Sanchez’s defense in a statement.

The São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office charged Andrés Sanchez with three crimes: aggravated continued embezzlement, money laundering, and falsification of a tax document.

The body is also demanding that the former Corinthians president reimburse, with monetary correction, the expenses made with the club’s corporate cards from August 2018 to December 2020. R$ 480,000 would have to be returned to the club, most of this amount paid by the former Corinthians president and a smaller portion paid by Roberto Gavioli, the financial manager.

Sanchez and Gavioli would also have to pay an additional 75% of the R$ 480,000, that is, R$ 360,000 each, for moral and material damages to Corinthians.

In December 2020, according to the MP-SP after analyzing credit card statements, Andrés spent around R$ 9,000 in Tibau do Sul, a municipality in Rio Grande do Norte where the famous Pipa beach is located. There were also more than R$ 6,000 in expenses in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago in January of the same year.

But, according to Cássio Roberto Conserino, the expenses paid with Corinthians’ corporate cards on these trips to the Northeast amounted to R$ 33,793.92.

There were also expenses of more than R$ 5,000 for the purchase of two watches at the luxury jeweler HStern, but although the card used was Corinthians’, the invoice for the products was issued in the name of former president André Sanches. Spending at clothing stores, such as Brooksfield, also caught the attention of the prosecutor’s office.

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