Amid irregularity claims, council votes to remove Tuma in stormy meeting | OneFootball

The extraordinary meeting of the Corinthians Deliberative Council (CD), called by the club's president Osmar Stabile to vote on the removal of the council's president Romeu Tuma Júnior, was marked by turmoil at Parque São Jorge on the night of this Monday (23). In total, 137 out of 290 council members attended.

In the absence of the president and vice-president of the Council, who did not recognize the legitimacy of the call, the 1st secretary of the board Maria Ângela Ocampos assumed the presidency of the session, as provided by article 17 of the body's Internal Regulations. After opening the proceedings, she formally declared the meeting closed, considering the call irregular, and left the plenary afterward.

Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Agência Corinthians

“I ended the meeting, and they didn't want to end it. They are inside conducting the meeting. I left because I ended the meeting. The meeting is completely irregular, it is not in accordance with the Statute. I ended the meeting, they didn't agree, and I'm leaving,” Maria Ângela told the press as she left Parque São Jorge.

Despite the declaration of closure, the council members present decided to continue the session. Lifetime council member Rubens Gomes argued that Maria Ângela would not have legitimacy to preside over the meeting due to a disciplinary process in the Ethics Committee. However, the council member had participated normally in previous meetings of the body, even composing the board, without being declared impeded.

The meeting continued under the guidance of the 2nd secretary of the Council Denis Piovesan, who took over the proceedings and moved the agenda to a vote. The deliberation was carried out through paper ballots. In the end, 115 council members voted in favor of removing Romeu Tuma Júnior, 15 voted against, and there were seven abstentions.

Despite the approval of Tuma's precautionary removal by the council members present at the meeting, the presidency of the body stated that the deliberation does not yet produce legal effects, as the validity of the call and the conduct of the proceedings are subject to statutory questioning.

In a statement, the vice-president of the Council and president of the Ethics Committee Leonardo Pantaleão declared that any decision depends on the formal recognition of the act's regularity, which is why, until this verification occurs, there is no official change in the presidency of the board.

“Regarding the deliberation that took place, the expression of Council Members within the meeting held is recognized.

However, the legal effects of any deliberation presuppose the regularity of the act that originated it, a circumstance that, as already noted, raises significant discussions from the statutory perspective.

Moreover, even if any formal defect is disregarded, consistent questions remain regarding the conduct of the proceedings throughout the meeting, which also recommends caution in attributing effectiveness to any deliberations.

Until there is recognition of its legal validity, there is no formal change in the Presidency of the Deliberative Council, which is why any assumption of function does not occur automatically.

Institutional acts will be carried out with strict adherence to the Social Statute, until due verification of their compliance.”

Understand the controversy surrounding the call

To call the meeting, president Osmar Stabile used article 112, item 6, of the Corinthians Statute as a basis, which deals with the duties of the position and provides for the possibility of calling the Deliberative Council. The call, however, is contested for contradicting article 82, item II, of the Statute, which establishes the specific procedure for holding extraordinary meetings of the body.

According to item “b” of the provision, the meeting can be requested by the president of the board, the president of the Guidance Council (CORI), the Fiscal Council, or at least 50 council members. The formal call, however, is the responsibility of the president of the Deliberative Council, who must set the session date within 30 days.

The failure to comply with the statutory procedure for calling an extraordinary meeting led the president of the Council Romeu Tuma Jr. and the vice-president of the body Leonardo Pantaleão not to recognize the legitimacy of the call. Both officially pointed out a violation of the Statute. The Council's Justice Committee also warned of the risk of judicial questioning and recommended the cancellation of the meeting.

The case reached the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office, which ordered the forwarding of the complaint of possible irregularity to the sector responsible for asset monitoring, to instruct the ongoing inquiry that analyzes the possibility of judicial intervention in the club.

Even in the face of the questions, the board maintained the call, and the meeting resulted in the approval of the precautionary removal of Romeu Tuma Júnior from the presidency of the Deliberative Council. The measure, however, was not recognized by the presidency of the body, and the impasse is expected to be taken to court.

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