Corinthians group fears for assembly, asks prosecutors | OneFootball

On the morning of this Tuesday (24), the Coletivo Voz Corinthiana, made up of Corinthians members and supporters who followed all the public hearings on the Statute reform, officially spoke out after the extraordinary meeting held last Monday (23), in which the attending councilors approved the provisional removal of the president of the Deliberative Council, Romeu Tuma Júnior.

In the statement, the group says the decision took place outside statutory legality and accuses the club’s current administration, led by Osmar Stabile, of promoting an “internal institutional rupture” to block the progress of the proposed Statute reform.

Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Ag. Corinthians

According to the statement, the session held at Parque São Jorge failed to respect the due process set out in the club’s internal rules and violated principles of democratic coexistence. The collective argues that the vote was conducted based on isolated interpretations of the Statute and with coordinated action by directors and councilors to prevent the continuation of the debate on institutional modernization.

The statement also points to an alleged “political capture” of the club’s oversight bodies, citing questions already submitted to the Ethics Committee about a possible conflict of interest in the presidency of the Fiscal Council, currently held by Haroldo Dantas, whom the group identifies as an employee of the Corinthians president. The collective also says that the duty of transparency set out in the General Sports Law has been disregarded in recent decisions by the administration.

The statement makes direct criticism of the actions of the Advisory Council (CORI) during the meeting. According to the text, the body’s president, Miguel Marques e Silva, and secretary, Paulo Roberto Bastos Pedro, legitimized a vote considered irregular, without formal authority to conduct the procedure. The collective argues that the measure was intended to prevent the vote on the statutory reform, a proposal that has been discussed at the club for months.

The statement also mentions the participation of councilors linked to Chapa 82, a group that, according to the collective, presented itself in the electoral process as a technical alternative to the club’s traditional politics, but allegedly acted to secure a quorum and make Tuma’s removal possible. Lawyer Felipe Ezabella, a former member of the same group, is cited as one of the participants in the articulation that led to the continuation of the session even after questions were raised about its legality.

Another point highlighted by Coletivo Voz Corinthiana was the stance of councilors who defended the validity of the meeting even in the face of statutory disagreements. Former football director Rubens Gomes, known as Rubão, is mentioned in the text as one of those who upheld the legitimacy of the act, despite criticism regarding the legal grounds used.

In addition to criticism of the procedure, the collective reported that the meeting was marked by episodes of tension and disrespect among councilors. According to the statement, councilor Miriam Athie was the target of verbal aggression and an attempted physical assault by councilor Alexandre Husni, which, for the group, shows the level of degradation in the club’s internal political environment.

For the collective, the vote to remove the president of the Deliberative Council directly resulted in weakening the statutory reform process, which provides for changes such as stricter transparency mechanisms, compliance rules, a ban on nepotism, the creation of independent oversight bodies, and the adaptation of the Statute to the General Sports Law.

The collective says the political maneuver took place even with an ongoing investigation by the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office into the club’s governance, which, according to the group, shows a lack of concern about possible future accountability.

Petition to the Public Prosecutor’s Office

At the end of the statement, Voz Corinthiana says it will file a petition with the Public Prosecutor’s Office to guarantee the holding of the General Assembly scheduled for next April 18, when the vote on the statutory reform project is set to take place. The project was drafted after 11 public hearings held within the Deliberative Council to debate the proposal.

The group argues that the decision should be made by the membership, to whom it attributes sovereignty to deliberate on structural changes at Corinthians.

Read below the full statement published by Coletivo Voz Corinthiana:

03/23/2026: a sad day in the history of Sport Club Corinthians Paulista

Yesterday, Parque São Jorge witnessed the materialization of a true internal institutional rupture. The approval of the removal of the President of the Deliberative Council, Romeu Tuma Júnior, took place outside any legality, trampling the due statutory process and the most basic rules of democratic coexistence at the club in order to forcibly impose an agenda of regression.

The contemporary political landscape of Corinthians has changed alarmingly. We watched, stunned, a blatant political capture of the oversight bodies by President Osmar Stábile. The duty to provide information, established in the General Sports Law (art. 64, sole paragraph, item III), has been systematically trampled, especially when it involves conflicts of interest. We had already filed a petition with the Ethics Committee regarding the conflict of interest in the presidency of the Fiscal Council, occupied by Mr. Haroldo Dantas, an employee of Osmar Stábile, and now the contamination appears to be widespread.

On last night’s tragic evening, we witnessed the capture of CORI itself. The body’s president, Mr. Miguel Marques, and the secretary, Mr. Paulo Pedro, legitimized a tainted vote. People who should have safeguarded legal technique chose instead to read the Statute in strips, citing isolated provisions to justify a political maneuver. They subverted the purpose of the body and, even without possessing the powers to do so, acted in an orchestrated way with a single target: to bring down the Statute reform.

The hypocrisy of the movement was laid bare by CORI’s own secretary. He taunted that anyone who disagreed with the meeting could go to court, but it is a public and well-known fact that he did not do the same against the General Assembly, which he also accuses of illegality. Without consistent legal arguments to block the vote in the courts, they were left with the path of authoritarianism: carrying out an internal political coup to prevent members from deciding on the reform.

As for CORI’s president, when asked about the technical and legal reasons for the removal under discussion, the response was the desire to vote on the reform in the Deliberative Council.

The seriousness of the situation is deepened by the stance of groups that had until then presented themselves as “technical alternatives” to the club’s old politics. Chapa 82, which rallied the support and hope of a large part of the fan base under the banner of renewal, proved to operate with the same logic it claimed to fight.

By showing up in force to guarantee a quorum and endorse yesterday’s illegitimate vote, they proved to act in a patronage-driven way, orbiting power without any commitment to the legality of the means or to the modernization of the institution.

The disillusionment with figures who had previously worn the veneer of technical expertise and legality did not stop there. Lawyer Felipe Ezabella, a former member of the same slate and until then regarded by many as a distinguished figure, also left his fingerprints on this maneuver.

In an interview after the session, while trying to justify the unacceptable incident involving the Council’s secretary, Maria Ângela, who was prevented from concluding the meeting even after formally declaring it closed due to illegality, he repeatedly used the first person plural (we). The choice makes explicit what had already been implied: his active role as one of the architects of the rupture.

When a legal professional normalizes the trampling of the prerogatives of the presiding board in order to impose a vote by force, it proves that the discourse of modernization was merely packaging for old practices.

Disdain for the internal rules became even more evident in the statements of councilor and former football director Rubens Gomes (Rubão). In an interview, he even publicly defended the alleged “legitimacy” of the session.

However, when confronted with the fact that the maneuver used exactly the same statutory basis as the attempted rupture that occurred in 2025 (during the administration of which he was part), his response was revealing: “the articles do not matter.” For the architects of this regression, the Statute is a mere detail.

As if trampling legal rules were not enough, the night was also stained by a deplorable episode of violence and disrespect. Councilor Miriam Athie, who was present and opposed the maneuver, reported that she was the target of verbal aggression and an attempted physical assault by Councilor Alexandre Husni.

It must be stated categorically: first of all, it is absolutely unacceptable and repugnant for a councilor to act violently to intimidate and attempt to assault a woman. Second, the episode lays bare the level of institutional degradation at the club. The Deliberative Council, which should be the stage for the debate of ideas and civility, has once again turned into an arena of confusion, vulgarity, and barbarity.

In short, the maneuver carried out yesterday served exclusively to halt the modernization of the institution and prevent members from deciding the club’s future, at the cost of the very dignity of Corinthians’ political environment.

Disrespect for legality has reached such a critical level that no one seems to care about the existence of an ongoing civil inquiry by the São Paulo State Public Prosecutor’s Office.

They have zero sense of urgency and act as if they were above any accountability, betting high and placing the club’s future in the hands of the same political figures as always, with the guarantee of zero structural changes.

Coletivo Voz Corinthiana reaffirms its unwavering commitment to legality and legitimacy. We have always supported and will continue fighting for the professionalization, transparency, and democratization of the club. Our defense is not made only of rhetoric, but of concrete and effective instruments of institutional oversight, which are even provided for in the reform project that the status quo is trying, at all costs, to annihilate.

Who is interested in not banning nepotism?Who is interested in not establishing a clear procedure for internal accountability involving the club’s own assets?Who is interested in the lack of adaptation of the Statute to the General Sports Law?Who is interested in the lack of a Compliance and Governance Comptroller’s Office?Who is interested in the absence of an Ethics Council independent from the politics of the Deliberative Council?Who is interested in ensuring that transparency is not an institutional duty set out in the Statute?

We will not accept them tearing up the Statute (and the reform project) to protect privileges.

We will file a petition with the São Paulo State Public Prosecutor’s Office to guarantee the holding of the General Assembly scheduled for April 18, 2026, the sovereign body of Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, so that the project drafted after months of debate and 11 public hearings, with open participation by members, councilors, and supporters, may be voted on.

For Corinthians, always!

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