Judgment day! Vasco council to punish 21 over SAF sale | OneFootball

The political backstage of São Januário is boiling over this Wednesday with the most dramatic chapter yet in the investigation into the former control of Cruz-Maltino football. The inquiry committee of Vasco’s Deliberative Council is holding a decisive meeting this afternoon to conclude and vote on the final report regarding the contractual and financial conditions under which the SAF was created and the subsequent sale of assets to 777 Partners. As originally reported by ge, the administrative proceeding was opened in June 2024 and required a year and a half of intense audits before culminating in the formal indictment of 21 members of the former executive board, including former president Jorge Salgado.

The preliminary report containing the serious accusations was delivered to the council in October of last year. According to the bylaws of the Rio-based institution, those indicted now face severe disciplinary penalties, ranging from a written warning or suspension of political rights for six months to permanent expulsion or removal from the club’s membership rolls. The responsibility for voting on the punishments and providing the proper legal follow-up will fall to seven council members: José Henrique Carvalho Gonçalves, Cláudio Pereira Gomes, Luiz Gustavo de Menezes Ribeiro, Jorge Luiz Moraes, José Pedro Mota de Souza Ferreira, André Luiz Vieira Afonso and Emmanoel Ursulino de França Filho.

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Concealed R$ 200 million debt and payments without services rendered

Among the most shocking financial scandals identified by the inquiry committee is the suspicious payment of R$ 775,833.34 made to a company based in the city of Blumenau. Vasco’s investigators found absolutely no evidence or supporting documents showing that the company in question provided any kind of actual service to the club association. In addition, the report includes explosive testimony from a former employee under Salgado’s administration, stating that the real value of the club’s liabilities was deliberately falsified in the balance sheet presented to members before the vote on Vasco SAF, leaving a concealed debt of more than R$ 200 million “swept under the rug.”

The committee identified the existence of a “Central Decision-Making Core,” which is said to have been directly responsible for leading all stages of the civil transition process, from the earliest commercial negotiations to the final signing of the contract with the American company. Among the leaders of this group are Carlos Roberto Osório, Roberto Duque Estrada, Adriano Mendes, Zeca Bulhões and Horácio Junior. Former CEO Luiz Mello was also named in the scheme, but ended up being left out of the indictment because he is not a Vasco member, placing him outside the committee’s disciplinary jurisdiction. At the end of today’s session, the final report will be delivered to the president of the Deliberative Council, João Riche, who will determine the next legal steps regarding the complaint.

See those involved in the Vasco SAF fraud:

Jorge Salgado and Pedrinho after the latest elections at Vasco – Photo: Matheus Lima/Vasco

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