Tuma laments Cori’s sudden halt, backs Corinthians statute reform | OneFootball

Romeu Tuma Júnior responded to the request from the Advisory Council (Cori) of Corinthians to cancel the vote on the club’s statute reform. In a statement published on the team’s official website this Tuesday, the president of the Deliberative Council regretted the position taken by the body and referred to it as a “vague criticism”.

In a statement released earlier, also on the Corinthians website, Cori claimed to have identified “illegalities” in the process and requested more time to analyze the proposals. The meeting to vote on the new statute is scheduled for November 24.

Tuma, in turn, argued that the body had not presented any suggestions during the drafting of the text and sees “sudden brakes” to “prevent the necessary statutory advances” for the club. He also promises to clarify the situation “very soon.”

Read Romeu Tuma Júnior’s statement:

“Regarding the statement published by the Advisory Council on Corinthians’ official website, I deeply regret that the participation of the body is limited to trying to prevent the necessary statutory advances that the club so badly needs and which have been established as goals of this Deliberative Council since the beginning of the current administration, in February 2024, when, in a unanimous decision by the plenary of the board, it was decided that a Reform of the Social Statute was necessary.

It is surprising that the body – which at no time submitted proposals or suggestions to be included in the reform – has now decided to speak out in favor of sudden brakes, hindering the progress of a process that invited and listened to all Corinthians members interested in participating in this historic moment. It could just as well have contributed constructive solutions for any points it considered mistaken. However, nothing was produced beyond a vague and, in my view, unjustified criticism.

Out of respect for the Advisory Council and the entire Corinthians community, especially those who dedicated themselves to proposing paths to strengthen our Institution, all clarifications will be presented very soon.

Finally, I emphasize that points such as the Faithful Supporter Vote, the accountability of directors, the prohibition of paid club positions for relatives of council members, the reformulation of the electoral model, and the definition of objective governance criteria and internal procedures, to name just a few points of the reform, can never harm Corinthians, regardless of the definitions made. Inertia, omission, and vanity certainly can.”

(Photo: André da Silva Costa/Gazeta Press)

Internal Conflict

As Gazeta Esportiva reported on November 13, the Corinthians statute reform has generated internal conflict at Parque São Jorge. The president of the Deliberative Council, Romeu Tuma Júnior, insists that the DC vote on the project by the end of this month, despite pressure from council members.

However, according to the report, Paulo Pedro and other Cori members believe that the councilors need more time to discuss the project and threaten to take the reform to court if there is not ample discussion of the text, which was presented at a press conference on October 27.

The councilors would like more meetings to be held, in addition to the one scheduled for November 24, to debate the project in more detail. Tuma, on the other hand, does not intend to give in. He believes that councilors can meet unofficially throughout the month to discuss the text or send proposals to the DC, so that the 24th is reserved only for voting on the new statute.

The president of the Council had already publicly expressed his desire to conclude the process before the end of 2025.

And SAFiel?

The heated discussions at Parque São Jorge could stall the process of voting on the new statute. Amid this scenario, SAFiel emerged as an alternative. However, the project that proposes turning Corinthians into a SAF (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol) has not yet advanced.

One of the main reasons is the recommendation from the compliance department, which evaluated the proposal from the group delivered to Romeu Tuma Júnior and the club president, Osmar Stabile. The department raised questions and suggested that the board not sign the letter of intent at this time.

‘Red flags’

There were three ‘red flags’ pointed out by the club’s compliance department. The first point is that the company Invasão Fiel S.A was opened recently, with low share capital of only R$ 3,000, despite promising to raise R$ 2.5 billion to pay off Corinthians’ debts and invest in football.

(Photo: Disclosure/SAFiel)

In addition, the club’s compliance department found that Maurício Chamati, one of the creators of SAFiel, was involved in a fraud case in court, which was dismissed but mentioned in the investigation. Also weighing against the businessman, who is co-founder of Mercado Bitcoin, is his relationship with the club’s former management, led by ousted president Augusto Melo.

Chamati participated, for seven months, in the Corinthians Independent Finance Committee. The group’s members, created by Pedro Silveira, then the club’s financial director, signed an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) valid for five years, in order to prevent the leakage of confidential information.

The businessman, therefore, committed to maintaining confidentiality about the data he had access to. However, months after the Committee was dissolved, following the impeachment of Augusto Melo, Chamati began working together with Carlos Teixeira and Eduardo Salusse on the development of SAFiel. The project was officially launched on October 28 of this year.

In a statement, SAFiel responded to the ‘red flags’ raised and emphasized the need to debate the proposal within Corinthians’ internal bodies. The project members say they are “open to dialogue” with councilors and associates at Parque São Jorge.

In Stabile’s hands

The decision to sign or not the SAFiel proposal is in the hands of Osmar Stabile. However, the likelihood of the Corinthians president moving the project forward at this time is low, given the compliance recommendation.

Last Tuesday, after the launch event for the 2026 Campeonato Paulista at Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu, the executive said he would not sign anything until the issues raised are addressed.

“We received the project and took it to compliance. Corinthians has a compliance department that works; in this administration it works, in other administrations I don’t know if it worked or not, but in this one it works. We are not going to leave any cursed legacy for the future. If there is any issue, as there was from compliance, Corinthians will wait. The board will wait to see if they resolve the issues raised and then we will talk about the technical part, the marketing part, all of that,” said Stabile.

“It has to go through compliance first. Corinthians does not sign a contract with anyone, whether with SAFiel or any other company, if there is any issue,” he concluded.

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