MP statement backs fresh bid to impeach Osmar Stabile at Corinthians | OneFootball

A new impeachment request against president Osmar Stabile was filed this Wednesday (17) with the club’s Deliberative Council. The petition was submitted by Leandro Jorge Bittencourt Cano, a judge and Corinthians member, and is based on a statement from the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office in the criminal case involving vice president Armando Mendonça.

The document, which Central do Timão had access to, requests the opening of impeachment proceedings against Stabile on the grounds that the president allegedly adopted conduct incompatible with the institutional duties of his position by submitting, in favor of Armando Mendonça, an institutional statement in the criminal case records.

The case stems from proceedings in which Mendonça was charged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office with attempted embezzlement, aggravated theft, and coercion in the course of proceedings, in an investigation related to the alleged disappearance of sports equipment supplied by Nike to Corinthians. After the charges were filed, the executive’s defense attached to the case file a statement signed by Osmar Stabile saying that an internal audit had not concluded that there had been any diversion or misappropriation of sports equipment and that the club had not institutionally positioned itself as the victim of a property crime.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

In response, prosecutor Cássio Roberto Conserino submitted a strongly worded statement to the court. In addition to requesting the removal of the petition submitted by the vice president’s defense, the Public Prosecutor’s Office member said that the stance taken by the Corinthians president is not compatible with that of an entity potentially harmed by the facts under investigation.

Among the excerpts highlighted in the impeachment request, Leandro Cano reproduces the prosecutor’s assessment that the statement signed by Stabile revealed an “unequivocal convergence of interests” with those under investigation and directly benefited the defendant’s defense strategy to the detriment of the club’s institutional interests.

According to the member, the seriousness of the situation stems precisely from the fact that the criticism came from the Public Prosecutor’s Office itself, the body responsible for the criminal prosecution of the case. In the petition, he argues that this is not an internal political disagreement, but points formally made in court by a public authority.

The document also states that the president’s actions amounted to a kind of “institutional shielding,” by using Corinthians’ administrative structure to protect private interests to the detriment of the club’s interests. Cano argues that Stabile ignored the conclusions of the internal audit mentioned by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and sought to rule out in advance the club’s status as a victim before the full production of evidence and judicial review of the case.

“It should be remembered that the President of Corinthians is not the owner of the Club. He is a representative elected by the members and a temporary administrator of a collective asset that belongs to thousands of members. By failing to act in defense of the institution and by acting in a manner aligned with the interests of the defendant, the President violates the fiduciary duties that underpin the legitimacy of his mandate,” says an excerpt from the petition.

In the filing, the member also cites excerpts from the prosecutors’ statement pointing to the possible characterization of reckless management. The argument is that the conduct attributed to Stabile could fall under the situations provided for in the Corinthians bylaws for holding executives accountable, especially in cases involving decisions made without due diligence or contrary to the club’s interests.

According to the petition, the stance adopted by the president allegedly compromised not only the club’s financial interests, but also its institutional reputation and its credibility with members, sponsors, and public opinion.

The request also stresses that any political-administrative accountability is independent of any criminal discussion. Cano says he is not seeking to anticipate a judgment of guilt in the criminal sphere, but that keeping a president formally criticized by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for acting in convergence with the interests of a defendant is enough to undermine the institutional trust necessary to exercise the office.

Finally, the member requests that the complaint be accepted, forwarded to the Ethics and Discipline Committee for investigation of the case, and that impeachment proceedings against Osmar Stabile be formally opened. He also asks that the president be notified to present a defense and that the statement from the Public Prosecutor’s Office filed on June 17 be incorporated into the case file as documentary evidence.

This is the third impeachment request filed against Osmar Stabile since the executive took over the Corinthians presidency after the removal of Augusto Melo, whose vice president he was. The first petition was submitted in April by an opposition group, which pointed to alleged bylaw and legal violations related to the agreement signed between the club and the Office of the Attorney-General of the National Treasury (PGFN) to settle a tax debt estimated at R$1.2 billion. The authors especially questioned the use of Parque São Jorge as collateral in the negotiation, arguing that the headquarters property had been offered without observing the procedures and authorizations provided for in the club’s internal rules.

At the beginning of June, council members and associates submitted a second impeachment request against Stabile. On that occasion, the signatories alleged a series of supposed bylaw, administrative, and legal irregularities involving the hiring of private security companies during the current administration. One of the petitions has already passed the initial admissibility stage and is under review by the club’s Ethics Committee, which is responsible for handling the case.

Public Prosecutor’s Office criticized Osmar Stabile’s actions in the case

In the statement filed last Tuesday (16), prosecutor Cassio Roberto Conserino harshly criticized the conduct of the Corinthians president after an institutional declaration favorable to Armando Mendonça’s defense was added to the case file. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the document does not reflect the stance expected from a representative of an entity that may have been harmed by the facts under investigation, in addition to disregarding that the crimes cited in the charges are public criminal actions and do not depend on the wishes of the alleged victim.

The prosecutor also argues that Stabile has a bylaw-imposed duty to defend the club’s interests and says that his statement prematurely ruled out the possibility of financial damage before the conclusion of the judicial process. According to Conserino, the stance adopted by the president showed an apparent convergence of interests with the defendant and directly benefited Armando Mendonça’s defense strategy.

Given this understanding, the MP member requested that, if Corinthians acts as assistant to the prosecution in the case, the entity’s representation should not be handled by Stabile, but rather by the president of the Deliberative Council, Romeu Tuma Júnior, and stated that he will forward a copy of the statement to the civil inquiry investigating possible administrative irregularities at the club and assessing the need for judicial intervention in Timão.

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