Romeu Tuma Jr explains pause in cases against former Corinthians presidents

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Central do Timão

·10 February 2026

Romeu Tuma Jr explains pause in cases against former Corinthians presidents

By Henrique Vigliotti / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On the evening of last Monday (9), the president of the Corinthians Deliberative Council, Romeu Tuma Jr, presided over the final hearing in the series of debates about the club’s statutory reform. After the event, the official gave an interview to the press and spoke about the decision to suspend internal proceedings against the club’s former presidents, as previously reported by Central do Timão.

The topic sparked strong reactions among fans and behind the scenes at Timão. Tuma explained that the suspensions of investigations involving former presidents Andrés Sanchez, Duilio Monteiro Alves, and Augusto Melo occurred due to the Deliberative Council’s lack of access to the case files and judicial decisions.

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Photo: Henrique Vigliotti/ Central do Timão Editorial Team

“Even today I took an action, which you must have followed, to suspend the proceedings in the case of former presidents Andrés, Duilio, and Augusto, regarding the use of the corporate card. I want to make it clear, as I did to the Council, that this does not halt the processes. The processes are ongoing, because there are several steps, several requests that we have sent to the board, which they must respond to.”

“What we did was, exceptionally, to protect the Justice Committee itself and the Ethics Committee, so that they do nothing that could publicly appear to be disrespecting the Judiciary, the Judicial Authority, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” explained the president of the DC.

Tuma Jr. also detailed the requests made directly to the Corinthians board so that the processes related to the use of the corporate card could resume against the former presidents.

“What we are demanding is that the board question, ask the Judiciary, ask the judge who is in charge of the cases, which are under judicial secrecy, that we are not aware of what is happening in the process, for authorization so that we can proceed with their hearings and also authorize them to make their personal defenses here within the institution.”

“We cannot risk the Judiciary thinking that we are disrespecting the work of the Judiciary, the judicial decisions, which we only know about through the press, we do not know exactly what is written, and also not give any impression that we are disrespecting the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and also not to put the councilors at risk.”

Commenting on a response from president Osmar Stabile and the Corinthians legal department, Romeu Tuma Jr. said he heard promises that on Tuesday (10) the requests would be filed with the Judiciary.

“I filed, I had it filed with the board so they would be aware. In a second moment, he (Osmar Stabile) had a conversation with me, thought I was absolutely right to guarantee everyone, and in a third moment, just to make it clearer for those following us, I spoke with director Pedro (Soares) and he already committed to officially contacting the Judiciary tomorrow, to get this authorization, explaining the role of the Deliberative Council, the Justice Committee, and the Ethics Committee, to achieve this organization.”

“Obviously, it depends on the Judiciary, so that we can proceed, but it is a matter of this legal guarantee, to do this work without taking risks. It is also good for everyone to know, so that tomorrow no one can raise the nullity of our internal acts, because tomorrow the very person under investigation or required could claim that we took some action without the authorization of the Judiciary and would be committing some judicial disobedience and could annul everything, which would indeed be detrimental to the Corinthians institution.”

“The Deliberative Council does not have the autonomy to approach the Judiciary directly, this statutory representation belongs to the executive board,” Romeu concluded, explaining the measures that former presidents Andrés Sanchez, Duilio Monteiro Alves, and possibly Augusto Melo could take against the club if the proceedings continued without the DC having access to the judicial determinations.

Information obtained by Central do Timão behind the scenes indicates that the decision was made with the aim of protecting the members of the DC, JC, and EC, who were investigating the case, fearing the possibility of being reported for non-compliance with a court order. Internally, there is no consensus that a possible online hearing, for example, would be equivalent to an in-person meeting with club officials or individuals, as occurred in the case of Andrés Sanchez, which could constitute a breach of a precautionary measure.

Another point found is that this move also serves internally so that the executive board, led by Osmar Stabile, has more direct and clear contact with the Deliberative Council regarding the delivery of documents, details, and evidence needed in each of the investigations against the former presidents.

Behind the scenes, it was found that there is internal and external alignment at Parque São Jorge, including the organized fan groups, that the total focus now should be on the statutory reform, and only after that resume the processes against the former presidents, following a timeline defined by priorities.

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