MP-SP charges Sanchez and Gavioli with 3 crimes, seeks millions | OneFootball

The Public Prosecutor's Office of São Paulo has charged the former president of Corinthians, Andrés Sanchez, and the financial manager, Roberto Gavioli, who was suspended this Wednesday, with aggravated continued embezzlement, money laundering, and falsification of tax documents, crimes related to the expenses on the club's corporate cards between 2018 and 2020.

The period investigated by the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office corresponds to the last presidential term of Andrés Sanchez. Invoices from August 2018 to December 2020 were analyzed by prosecutor Cássio Roberto Conserino, who detected a series of irregularities, such as expenses on trips to Fernando de Noronha and Pipa, jewelry stores, clothing stores, gas stations, hospitals, among others.

“We understand, after examining those invoices, that the corporate card of Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, the business card, not the personal one, was used as if it were private. There was a reversal of ownership, and one of the accused, the former president, began using this card as if he were the owner and made numerous personal purchases. I don't say one, I say numerous personal purchases, and these are purchases that one can see, it doesn't take much perspicacity to know that a corporate card is not used in a drugstore, a laboratory clinic, a top hospital, or duty-free. This money belongs to the sports entity Sport Club Corinthians Paulista and not to the person who temporarily holds the position of president,” said the prosecutor.

Although Andrés Sanchez is identified as the author of the expenses with Corinthians' corporate cards, the club's financial manager during Andrés' administration, who remains in the position, Roberto Gavioli, was also charged for omission, as his theoretical function would be to manage Corinthians' accounts, but he allegedly “turned a blind eye” to the improper expenses of the then-president of Timão.

“He had the legal duty to prevent the result. He was the guarantor of the legal good, he was obliged to check invoices, to verify the relevance of the amount spent with what was on the invoice or then on the credit card bill. He was obliged to prepare a report to present to the internal superior bodies and to account for it, but none of this was done. In interrogation, he said he had no duty to check, but he was paid and, therefore, it was part of his function. So, he entered as a co-defendant,” stated Cássio Roberto Conserino.

“One fact that drew a lot of attention to the point that I imagined he was aware of everything was that he, according to interrogation, said that Corinthians had no credit. He split the credit card bill. Everyone knows that splitting a credit card bill is the worst alternative of the existing ones. There were three installments: one of R$ 7,500.00, another of R$ 8,600.00, and a third of R$ 20,000.00. It doesn't seem minimally credible to me that the financial manager would authorize the installment and not see what was on the bill. There it is very clear the intent, the will to adhere to the allegedly criminal project with his omission,” he added.

Millionaire Reimbursement

The Public Prosecutor's Office of São Paulo demands from Andrés Sanchez the reimbursement, with monetary correction, of the expenses with Corinthians' 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.

Recently, Andrés Sanchez made a payment of R$ 15,000 to Corinthians due to expenses with the club's corporate card on a year-end trip. On that occasion, the former president claimed he confused the cards, as he had a personal card from the same bank.

In December 2020, Andrés spent about 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 with the purchase of two watches at the luxury jewelry store HStern, but although the card used was Corinthians', the invoice for the products was issued in the name of the former president André Sanches. Expenses in clothing stores, such as Brooksfield, also caught the prosecutor's attention.

“When we do the selective analysis of each purchase, we ask if there was any important event at the time that justified Andrés' institutional presence in a certain place. They didn't answer us. They said they didn't have the former president's private schedule. They said that Mr. Roberto Gavioli, when examining the invoices, didn't notice so many irregularities because the club's annual movement is more than R$ 1 million,” the prosecutor pointed out.

What are the next steps?

The complaint from the Public Prosecutor's Office of São Paulo was sent to the Judiciary for consideration. The defendants, if the complaint is accepted, will present preliminary responses, the Judiciary will analyze the case and schedule the hearing.

Once the hearing is scheduled, the parties involved in the process will express themselves orally or in writing. After that, the first-instance judge will issue the sentence.

It is worth remembering that the Public Prosecutor's Office is not only investigating Andrés Sanchez's term but also possible irregularities in the other two last presidential terms of Corinthians: Duílio Monteiro Alves and Augusto Melo.

“Regarding Duílio, I will now delve into the invoices of the former president. What was the criterion of action? The oldest facts. I took 2018 and now I will continue. What I can attest is that on October 23, Mr. Denilson [Grilo, former club driver] will be subjected to interrogation,” stated the prosecutor.

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