Armando Mendonça steps down as Corinthians vice-president | OneFootball

On the night of this Monday (8), Armando Mendonça formally announced his leave of absence from the vice presidency of Corinthians. The official announced the decision through a statement sent to the press. As a result, institutional and administrative matters will now be centralized solely under president Osmar Stabile. Central do Timão has learned that the executive will be away for 30 days and may return at any time.

It is worth remembering that Armando Mendonça was charged by the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office with alleged crimes of aggravated embezzlement, attempted embezzlement, aggravated theft through abuse of trust, and coercion during legal proceedings in relation to the case involving the diversion of Nike sports equipment, a club partner since 2003. Gaviões da Fiel, the club’s main organized supporters’ group, spoke out last Saturday demanding Armando’s removal from office.

Photo: Reproduction/Instagram

A group of Corinthians council members and associates even filed a request for the executive’s removal from the vice presidency, but the courts ended up suspending the disciplinary proceedings against Armando within the club. In the statement announcing his leave from office, the vice president says president Osmar Stabile lacked transparency in clarifying the facts to Corinthians supporters.

In addition, in the text, Armando Mendonça once again denied having diverted and appropriated the 131 sports items mentioned in the Public Prosecutor’s Office complaint. He also stresses that 62 of those items never left Corinthians’ premises and that the rest were formally sent to employees and security staff of the presidency.

In his defense, the official cites the closing of the Nike case by the Civil Police, which found no improper conduct on his part. He also says he was not responsible for the operational control of the Parque São Jorge storeroom or for Corinthians’ inventory control. In the statement, he also alleges a “virtual lynching” and laments the leak of audio recordings made in the second half of 2025 that supposedly point to an attempt to intimidate those responsible for the internal audit into the episode – read the full official statement at the end of the article.

Finally, Armando Mendonça says he is paying the price for having reported irregularities committed by former president Augusto Melo in relation to the VaideBet case and for having supported his removal while others remained silent. He concludes by saying that his departure is not proof of guilt, but rather a move to protect his family and put Corinthians above political issues and interests, emphasizing that his innocence will be proven by the proper authorities.

Official statement from Armando Mendonça

TO CORINTHIANS SUPPORTERS, MEMBERS, COUNCIL MEMBERS, AND ALL WHO RESPECT THE HISTORY OF SPORT CLUB CORINTHIANS PAULISTA

I speak out in respect for my history, my family, the council members, the associates, the club employees, and above all, Corinthians supporters. I do so with serenity, but also with the necessary firmness of someone who cannot allow his honor to be struck by incomplete narratives, hasty and ill-intentioned accusations, and interpretations that do not correspond to the truth.

I have been a lawyer for more than twenty years. But above all, I am a son, brother, father, a Corinthians supporter, and I have a history built long before any office. A history I would never put at risk for any improper advantage.

I am deeply concerned to see that an accusation of this gravity, based on work that, although technically worthless, does not claim that there was any diversion of materials by me, released at the end of the workday on a Wednesday, on the eve of a long holiday, produced a concrete effect: my reputation was exposed for days to public interpretation, my family suffered all these days, while the defense, due to the very functioning of the justice system, could only act properly after the regular filing and processing of the case.

This is serious. Not only because of the personal damage, but because of the method. When an accusation starts circulating before the legal process, a person’s reputation is exposed even before they can fully exercise their defense.

Reputation is not vanity. It is moral patrimony. It is something built over the course of a lifetime and that must be defended with serenity, firmness, and truth.

Therefore, I consider it my duty to clarify the facts, reaffirm my clear conscience, and make it clear that I have never committed any unlawful act against Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.

Therefore, I state with absolute clarity: I have never diverted any material from Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.

The narrative that I appropriated 131 club items is not true. The accusation did not even take care to see that of these 131 items, 62 never even left Corinthians; 6 items were intended for President Osmar’s trusted security guard, Fernando; 2 bags were intended for Leonardo Pantaleão. There are mistakes that have already been explained and will continue to be clarified. The internal document produced within Corinthians itself does not state that I committed diversion, appropriation, or any conduct of that nature. Nor did the police investigation conclude that there was any diversion of materials by me.

Unfortunately, the institution, through its president, lacked firmness in clarifying this point to the supporters, members, and council members. There was a lack of willingness, on the part of those who could have done so, to put an end once and for all to a false, unfair, and destructive narrative. An accusation like this deserves a position from the club before the entire nation, and not only among circles of members, friends, and some supporters.

No one who knows even a little about my trajectory can believe, in good faith, that I would risk my life, my family, my profession, my reputation, and my name for club materials. Corinthians is too great to be treated lightly. And my history is too serious to be reduced to an accusation that does not correspond to the truth.

It must also be said, with serenity and firmness, that it is not possible to attribute to me supposed “reckless management” over an area that was not under my direct responsibility and was not part of my institutional duties. The vice presidency I hold was not the same as operational management of the storeroom, inventory control, distribution, or write-off of sports materials.

Responsibility is not presumed through proximity, narrative convenience, or the need to find a name. Responsibility requires fact, assignment, competence, conduct, and proof.

I have always defended a professional, serious, independent, and technically responsible investigation. I requested that Corinthians hire a specialized company to carry out this work. I also requested a financial audit. My requests were not granted by the president, who, by law and in fact, is responsible for SCCP. Because of this, I independently asked a renowned and specialized company to analyze the work the president had requested from those who lacked the technical qualifications to perform it. The conclusion is disastrous. Enough amateurism. Enough treating Corinthians with such disrespect.

I also repudiate the selective disclosure of excerpts from alleged private conversations, clandestinely recorded many months ago, in September 2025, and only now brought to the public, without their entirety, context, chain of custody, or technical validation being known. Private conversations, when recorded without the knowledge of those involved, fragmented, and presented in convenient excerpts, may serve less the truth and more the destruction of reputations.

If someone, more than eight months ago, secretly recorded a private conversation, kept that material, selected excerpts, and only now made it public, that method alone reveals much about their true intention. Those who seek the truth try to clarify the facts at the proper time. Those who record, keep, edit, and disclose only when it becomes politically convenient do not contribute to justice. They contribute to moral lynching.

I do not fear the truth. I never have. What concerns me is that this episode has already ceased to be only about me. It has come to represent a broader reflection: if honest people, qualified professionals, businesspeople, council members, and associates who wish to help Corinthians begin to believe that any political disagreement may result in smear campaigns, hasty accusations, and public judgments even before evidence is produced, who will still be willing to serve the club? The Romeus, Leonardos, Marcelos of life?

Fighting the good fight is difficult when some choose to fight in the mud. I will not submit to that kind of dispute. I will not stoop to the level of those who prefer insinuation to proof, editing to context, mud to fair debate.

In difficult moments, I made difficult choices. By bringing to light the seriousness of the facts involving the Vai de Bet case, I know I made enemies. When I became aware of those facts, my conscience allowed me no other path. I broke away immediately.

Each person knows the timing of their decisions and the weight of their silences. It is not for me to judge anyone’s conscience. But it is important to remember that not everyone took a stand at the same moment. Some took longer, some remained close, and some even accepted positions after serious facts were already known. Today, some speak of morality as if they had always been in the same place from the very beginning.

I say this without arrogance and without any pretense of superiority. I simply record a fact: my position was taken when it needed to be taken, not when it became convenient to take it. And I know that today I am paying a high price for that.

Politics is part of life in society and of membership-based clubs. The problem is not politics itself, but the way it is practiced. Good politics builds, brings people together, engages in dialogue, and serves. Bad politics destroys, generalizes, accuses, and tries to win by morally wearing the other side down.

Corinthians cannot be used as a springboard for personal interests, external projects, power struggles, or narratives that diminish its institutional greatness.

I have never believed in individual saviors. Neither inside nor outside the club. Corinthians will not be saved by one person, one group, or one narrative. The way forward for Corinthians will always be collective: directors, council members, associates, professionals, and supporters working with responsibility, transparency, and respect.

My fight for what I consider right will continue. I will not accept that this type of game, whose objective is to drive away people who can help Corinthians, should prevail. Those who have a reputation to preserve have much more to lose than to gain by exposing themselves. But there are moments when silence can be confused with conformity, and serenity must be accompanied by clarity.

I am absolutely convinced that it will once again be demonstrated that I never committed any wrongdoing against Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.

And above all, I have the clear conscience of someone who can look at his family, his history, the council members, and Corinthians supporters and say: I would never put my name, my life, and my honor at stake for any improper advantage, much less for materials from a club I have always sought to respect.

For the sake of consistency, and out of respect for Corinthians, Corinthians supporters, my friends on the Council, the club employees, and my family, I inform you that I have requested from the internal bodies a leave of absence from my position as 2nd vice president of Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.

Not because I recognize any guilt. Because there is no guilt to recognize. Not out of fear. Because I have nothing to fear. But because I believe that, at certain moments, serving Corinthians means putting the club above oneself.

I am not attached to the office. I am attached to my principles and ideals.

I owe respect to Corinthians. I owe protection to my family. I owe loyalty to my conscience. And it is with that conscience absolutely at peace that I move forward.

Life demands courage. To serve Corinthians, one must have courage. And I will not stand alongside those who fear wiretappers. To lead this nation, firmness and conviction are required.

São Paulo, June 8, 2026.

Armando Mendonça

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