Leonardo Pantaleão details Andrés Sanchez exit, next steps at Corinthians | OneFootball

The acting president of Corinthians’ Deliberative Council, Leonardo Pantaleão, spoke to the press after the meeting held on Monday night (25) at Parque São Jorge, which decided on the expulsion of Andrés Sanchez from the club’s membership.

During the interview, the official commented on how the session unfolded, answered questions about possible alternative punishments, spoke about the chance of the case being taken to court, and also addressed the proceedings involving former presidents Duílio Monteiro Alves and Augusto Melo.Pantaleão also stressed that, under his leadership, Council votes will continue to be open and roll-call, in addition to commenting on the threats he said he had received in recent days.

Photo: Reproduction / Central do Timão

When asked about criticism made by councilor Armando Mendonça and about how the vote was conducted, Leonardo Pantaleão avoided controversy and said the decision reflected the will of the majority of the councilors present.

“Regarding Armando, I’m not even going to comment, I respect his opinion, so that’s that. Now, regarding the vote, once again, it was, as it should be, a democratic vote, with the existing options presented to the Council. The Ethics Committee’s opinion was read, and Andrés Sanchez’s defense was also given the opportunity, for the same amount of time, to make its points, and right afterward we had the vote. And the councilors, in general, understood, by majority, that removal from the membership was the appropriate punishment, in light of what was established during the proceedings.”

Next, the acting president explained that there was no internal debate about alternative penalties, such as temporary suspension.

“No, there was no specific discussion about that. Mário Gobbi, at the beginning, raised some questions because the Ethics Committee’s opinion did not present those alternatives. It was explained: the Ethics Committee’s opinion is advisory regarding a specific punishment, based on what it finds from all the evidence produced in the case. So, it was explained, but no one specifically brought up this suspension penalty for debate.”

Asked about the possibility of the decision made by the Deliberative Council being challenged in court, Pantaleão said that is the defense’s right.

“It is the defense’s right, we have no control over that. So, it is possible that it may eventually happen, it can happen, that is part of the democratic process. It is even good if that eventually happens so that there can be more and more transparency.”

The official also commented on the meaning of the decision made by the councilors and said that the conduct examined in the case was decisive for the outcome of the vote.

“I think that, within what happened, it was the expression of the will of most of the councilors. That has to be accepted, that has to be taken into account. It is something that, regardless of whether the fans truly wanted it, was done based on what was in fact established in the proceedings. There was use of the corporate card, not even the accused himself denies that. So, what was examined was the conduct; values are not examined, nothing beyond that is examined. It was the conduct involved that ended up generating this type of consequence.”

Leonardo Pantaleão was also asked about the possibility of other former presidents going through similar situations within the club. The official confirmed that the case involving Duílio Monteiro Alves is already moving internally.

“The proceedings—the one involving Augusto Melo is not yet with the Ethics Committee. Duílio’s arrived a little while ago and is beginning to go through the same procedural steps, without rushing, without possibly creating room to argue some nullity or something like that. So the time will come when the Ethics Committee will also soon deliberate on Duílio’s matter and bring it to a vote in the same way.”

Speaking about the meeting scheduled for next week involving Augusto Melo, Pantaleão guaranteed that he will continue adopting the same voting model.

“All votes over which I preside will follow the same criterion. You can’t follow one criterion for one person and a different criterion for another. So, as long as I am in the presidency, all votes will be open and roll-call.”

Finally, the acting president commented on the threats he said he received before this Monday’s session and, regarding possible legal action related to the threats, Pantaleão said he is still evaluating what measures he will take.

“This issue is a sad one to even have happen, but it happened. I more or less already expected this kind of possibility, because in situations like this, which involve a lot of emotion and many other things behind it, we understand that attempts to frustrate or block some kind of action end up happening. Of course, it is something abhorrent, it is even illegal, criminal, but unfortunately it ends up being part of it. I still haven’t decided about that, I’m going to look at it calmly so I can assess what to do.”

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