Corinthians vice denies material misuse, blames audit flaws | OneFootball

The vice president of Corinthians, Armando Mendonça, gave a lengthy interview this Wednesday in São Paulo and denied having committed any misappropriation of club materials. The executive believes he may be the target of political maneuvers and pointed out flaws in the report prepared by the club, which he describes as “biased.”

“I did not expect to see what is happening. From the beginning, I have been absolutely certain that I did not commit any act harmful to the club. Out of respect for the president and the internal bodies, I explained to Cori, I proved it, I documented it. Yesterday, I did the same with the police authorities. I need to explain the dirty tricks being played against me. Politics is part of it, but destroying a person's reputation overnight is unacceptable,” he vented.

“I live off my reputation, I am a lawyer, without it I cannot support my family. At Corinthians you have to prove you are honest. I have never misappropriated any material from Corinthians, there has never been any improper use, except for when I travel or handle institutional relations, which is one of the president’s duties. The information is false. The report is flawed when it comes to me, my conduct. I did not join Corinthians to harm the club. This is the worst moment of my life as a person,” the vice president added.

And the 131 items?

The executive was one of the main targets of the club’s internal audit, which identified irregularities in the distribution of sports materials supplied by Nike. The document stated that Armando, identified as the person responsible for managing the materials since May of this year, had withdrawn 131 additional items that were not included in the quota of “shirts for management relations” on game days. According to the report, between six and eleven extra team shirts are requested, in the name of the kit room, per match, for this purpose.

Armando, however, argued that the data is “false.” He presented documents, which the report also had access to, and revealed that of the 131 items mentioned, only 47 were withdrawn by him, either for relationship purposes or personal use – the requests, in fact, were duly justified and signed by the executive.

The remaining 84 only contained his authorization, which he sees as a “mere formality,” but were not requested by Armando. Of these 84, 62 did not even leave the club’s custody. The items were transferred from the warehouse at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava to Parque São Jorge. He also cited an example involving the former legal director and current president of the Ethics Committee, Leonardo Pantaleão, who requested a suitcase during a trip on behalf of Corinthians and had the request granted by the vice president.

“I did not misappropriate 131 materials. That’s a lie. Item 13 of the material says so. I cannot consider this a serious job. The report says that the vice president withdrew more materials than other executives and even the president. But where is the comparison? Since it says that, I have the right to see that comparison. The report says I withdrew materials for my own use, but it didn’t bother to read the request and see that it was a transfer of 62 materials from the CT to the warehouse at Parque São Jorge. I am not responsible. The responsible party is the administrative director. These materials were transferred to another location,” said the executive.

‘Auditor’s Disappearance’

Armando Mendonça also pointed out another error in the report. He said he accessed the document on the 7th and identified that three employees from the club’s Technology Department had been listed as auditors of the process: Marcelo Munhoes, Reginaldo Nascimento, and Luiz Fernando Monteiro de Moraes.

At the time, the report had not been signed by any of them. Armando found some information in the document strange, took photos on his cell phone, and informed the president of Corinthians, Osmar Stabile, that the work was “mistaken.” Days later, the vice president received an email from Luiz Moraes, claiming that he had not participated in the audit, as previously stated. Mendonça then notified extrajudicially Marcelo Munhoes and Reginaldo. The next day, the document was allegedly tampered with.

“On the 4th, President Osmar Stabile and Marcelo Munhoes were heard. They gave a statement at the police station. There, he [Munhoes] said he delivered the finalized report on the 3rd. I asked for access to the report in a conversation with the president. On the 7th, I went to his [Stabile’s] office and he showed me the report. I read it and took photos. I found some things strange,” said Armando.

“In an email, Luiz denied participation in the report. Since I was accused of a crime, saying that I threatened, coerced, I notified extrajudicially. My notification was because of that. That was on the 10th. Strangely, on the 11th, I received the document that was signed and Luiz’s name was no longer there,” he added.

Threats

In one section of the report, Munhoes states that Armando had shown “concern” about the direction of the audit. The employee reports that, in a conversation between them, the dialogue took on a “more forceful tone, with aggressive expressions and allusions interpreted as threats.” In addition, the Corinthians technology director accuses Mendonça of having interrupted a club meeting with Nike representatives, causing embarrassment. The vice president, however, denies this.

“The report says that I interrupted an interview. That did not happen. I did not interrupt anyone, I did not threaten anyone. He is accusing me of a crime. I cannot accept that. I picked up the phone and called the Nike representative. He denied that I caused any embarrassment. I told the president that he should tear up the report and throw it away,” he stated.

Shirt with NFL Patch

Another part of the document points out that Armando Mendonça allegedly requested the remaining uniforms from the derby between Corinthians and Palmeiras, held on August 31. The shirts had the commemorative patch of the NFL. The executive explained the situation.

“When the NFL game ended, I asked Zeca [warehouse employee] to set aside all the leftover material in the warehouse. I documented this by email. I withdrew eight shirts and suggested giving them as gifts to the event’s collaborators, for all their effort. The president said there was an audit on this topic and asked to keep them. I did not ask anyone to cancel. The eight shirts are stored in a bag at the club, we will give them to collaborators,” he justified.

Communication Failures

Armando claims that, throughout the audit process, neither he nor Fábio Soares, the club’s administrative director, were contacted to provide clarifications. The vice president says he even spoke with Munhoes and made himself available to answer questions.

“One of the most serious things I see in this work is that, in these two and a half months, neither I nor Fábio Soares received any questions. No one asked me for clarification. If they had, this report could have been different. We had a board meeting before the report was finalized. I sat down and talked to Munhoes. I said I didn’t know anything about the report, I asked him to contact me if he had any doubts. I made myself available. Munhoes knows my house, my family,” he commented.

Vice President Calls for “External Audit”

The vice president of Corinthians does not recognize the audit’s work and calls for an external investigation, with a specialized company. He promises that, if any irregularity committed by him is found, he will resign from his position.

“For me, any audit needs to be done by a specialized and unbiased company. If the president asked me, I wouldn’t do it. I’m not qualified for that. An audit with credibility needs to be external. I’ve always asked the president for that. If a specialized audit is done and it finds that I misappropriated even a paperclip, I will resign. Corinthians can issue a statement saying I am persona non grata. I didn’t go to Corinthians to ruin my life over 131 materials. I was very upset about this,” he stated.

Next Steps

The president of Corinthians, Osmar Stabile, forwarded the audit report to the club’s Deliberative Council, which in turn sent the document to the Justice Committee for investigation. The case will also be monitored by the Timão Ethics Committee and investigated by the Civil Police.

Armando Mendonça says he has already made himself available to the president of the Deliberative Council, Romeu Tuma Júnior, to clarify doubts to the internal bodies “as soon as possible.”

“I called President Tuma saying I would like to be heard as soon as possible. He said he needs to check the schedule,” he reported.

“People know that I am serious. Maybe that bothers some, due to political interests, jealousy, vanity… This report only mentions my name, the narrative led everyone to believe that I misappropriated Corinthians’ materials,” the vice president concluded.

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