Corinthians councillors approve suspension of Romeu Tuma Júnior | OneFootball

Romeu Tuma Júnior, president of Corinthians’ Deliberative Council, has been provisionally stood down after councillors voted on Monday night.

According to Globo.com, club president Osmar Stabile called the meeting and accused Tuma of interfering in his administration.

With the verdict, vice-president Leonardo Pantaleão assumes control of the body that audits the club’s accounts. Tuma now awaits an Ethics and Discipline Commission process that will hear those involved and issue an opinion before a final vote on his position.

The session was fraught. Tuma did not attend, and Pantaleão also stayed away over political disagreements, while first secretary Maria Angela Ocampos opened proceedings then left minutes later claiming statutory irregularities and saying she had closed the meeting.

Second secretary Denis Nieto Piovesan then took the chair and oversaw a ballot of the 137 councillors present. The process lasted about three hours and ended 115 in favour, 15 against and seven abstaining, approving his suspension.

People close to Tuma argue the session was irregular, saying Stabile could not convene it without the council president’s assent and that, once closed, it could not be reopened, so a court challenge is possible. The row sits within debate over statute reforms that could allow Fiel Torcedor members to vote, and earlier in March Stabile accused Tuma of interference and of threatening him inside the club.

Source: Globo.com