Morality wins: council expels duo at heart of VIP box scandal | OneFootball

In a historic decision made this Thursday (9), São Paulo’s Deliberative Council officially expelled Douglas Schwartzmann and Mara Casares from the membership roster and the council body. The two were the main figures in the VIP Box Scandal, caught in phone conversations clandestinely negotiating a space at Morumbi for Colombian singer Shakira’s concert in February of last year.

The vote was overwhelmingly one-sided, with 221 votes in favor of expulsion against just 14 opposing votes.

The case, which became public last December, prompted a rigorous investigation led by the club’s Ethics Committee. The body’s final report found that the former directors had seriously violated the association’s bylaws, recommending the maximum penalty of expulsion.

The final vote, which sealed the former executives’ political fate, began on Wednesday night (8) and was concluded at the end of this afternoon, resulting in both being immediately banned from São Paulo’s social and deliberative activities. The pair will still remain under investigation by the Civil Police and the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The ethics committee’s report, signed by its five members, argues that the case was not merely an administrative failure, but a series of acts incompatible with the club’s governance standards.

The attempt to discredit the 44-minute audio recording was dismissed based on two independent expert reports that attested to the material’s integrity, in addition to Mara herself confirming its contents during a hearing.

The preliminary arguments raised by the defense — such as expiration of the deadline, denial of due process, and a request to suspend proceedings until the end of the police inquiry — were rejected. On the merits, the committee concluded that there had been an improper transfer of an institutional asset, commercial exploitation by third parties, and an attempt to prevent the case from becoming public, constituting reckless management under the Profut Law.

The document also points to reputational damage to the club, reinforced by internal testimony indicating an impact on commercial negotiations.

The case originated from the use of Morumbi’s 3A VIP box, an institutional space linked to the presidency, during Shakira’s concert in February of last year. According to the investigation, the space was informally handed over and ended up being commercially exploited by third parties, generating revenue of around R$ 132,000.

In audio recordings that became public, the two involved discuss the operation and admit irregularities, with Schwartzmann stating: “There was a deal here where you made money, I made money, everybody made money.”

The situation worsened when the intermediary in the deal went to court after a conflict with a partner company, leading the executives to pressure her to withdraw the lawsuit. The fallout from the case resulted in the removal of those involved, the opening of internal investigations, and internal political developments that culminated in Júlio Casares resigning from the presidency and the dismissal of figures connected to the handling of the episode.

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