Corinthians director explains prosecutor’s visit, Tuma reveals unease | OneFootball

By Tiago Salazar and André Costa

The São Paulo Public Prosecutor, Cássio Roberto Conserino, was at Parque São Jorge, the social headquarters of Corinthians, last Thursday afternoon to collect documents that could help compose the investigation into alleged improper expenditures during the administrations of Andrés Sanchez (2018-2020), Duilio Monteiro Alves (2021-2023), and Augusto Melo (2024-2025).

Conserino reviewed the club’s administrative processes, such as the reimbursement practice, which is part of the arguments presented by Andrés and Duílio when questioned about corporate card expenses. The prosecutor was also able to confirm that, in fact, there is a lack of important documents, especially from the period of Augusto Melo’s administration, which are suspected of having been removed.

The prosecutor arrived at the social headquarters escorted by six Military Police vehicles and other authorities, such as delegate César Saad. They were received by the club president, Osmar Stabile, and the legal director Pedro Soares, who gave an exclusive interview to Gazeta Esportiva and detailed the meeting.

How was the visit?

According to Pedro Soares, the initiative to visit Parque São Jorge came from the prosecutor himself. The club agreed to open the doors of the social headquarters to Cássio Conserino, who got to know the facilities and understood how the process of document storage and expense reimbursement works.

“We have a good relationship. Everything he asked for, we provided promptly. By official letter, he expressed his wish to come here. We responded that our doors are open to demonstrate total transparency and to preserve the club’s interests. He came, visited the club’s facilities, saw where the documents are stored. He went to the fourth floor, where the most recent documents are kept, went to the warehouse near Fazendinha, and even to the basement,” said the Corinthians legal director.

“He checked the facilities, saw how things are stored, asked questions. An important thing was that he understood how things work, I think he wanted to understand that too, how expense reimbursement works, for example. He got these clarifications that will help him reach the conclusions he’s seeking, I believe he was satisfied. It helped us strengthen the relationship and for him to understand that we don’t want to hide anything. He said we were very cooperative,” he added.

(Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Agência Corinthians)

The executive also explained the presence of César Saad at the meeting and said he already expected the delegate to go to Parque São Jorge.

“Yes, I knew [that César Saad would be present]. There was nothing formal, but since all the agencies are practically together, because there’s Drade, Jecrim, he [César Saad] also accompanied. There were some inquiries he was following, so he took the opportunity to clear up doubts together with Dr. Cássio,” he explained.

Documents delivered

Pedro Soares revealed which documents were handed over by the Corinthians board to the authorities. According to him, Cássio took minutes from the Deliberative and Fiscal Councils.

“They took documents they requested from us. They asked if they could take them, we left it up to them. We just had to check exactly which document it would be, we always have to protect the club. For example, you can’t take an athlete’s contract. If it’s specifically about the subject, no problem. They took minutes that are or should be public from the Deliberative and Fiscal Councils, approving or rejecting accounts. Nothing beyond the minutes,” he said.

“He only took copies that we printed. There’s no confidential document, no bank statement, nothing like that,” he added.

Discomfort at the social headquarters

According to reports heard by Gazeta Esportiva, the prosecutor’s visit to Parque São Jorge caused some discomfort at Corinthians’ social headquarters.

The president of the club’s Deliberative Council, for example, was not invited to the meeting and learned of the situation through his secretary, who felt embarrassed when ordered to release access to CD documents.

(Photo: André Costa/Gazeta Press)

Pedro Soares admitted to the report that Romeu’s secretary was “in shock” and revealed that he called the president of the Council during Cássio Conserino’s visit due to the absence of a court warrant for the search and seizure of documents. According to Pedro Soares, Tuma allowed access to the Deliberative Council minutes.

“I called Dr. Romeu Tuma, he also called me. His secretary got involved, coordinated. She was in shock. He called me, asked what was happening, I explained that it was a courtesy on our part, we were allowing him to take documents. I asked if we could take a look, he allowed it, said to feel free. He was informed and spoke with Cássio, he was permissive,” said the executive.

“There are documents from the Fiscal Council that were not with the secretary, so I, with the president of the Council’s knowledge, contacted members of the Fiscal Council from 2018 to 2025 and requested the minutes from that period. They managed to provide them, we printed them and he [Cássio] already took them. For the documents we couldn’t get, we have five days to deliver them to him,” he added.

Pedro also explained why the Corinthians executive board did not invite Romeu, considering that the authorities had access to documents related to the Deliberative Council, which he presides over.

“We didn’t know if he intended to collect documents from the Council or not. As the official letter itself says, the request was with us. We attended to him that way. He took advantage of us being there and asked if we had the minutes. Since the minutes were on our website, what we found we delivered to him. The other documents we didn’t find, we made this contact and proceeded as I explained,” he justified.

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The other side

Gazeta Esportiva also contacted Romeu Tuma Júnior. The president of the Corinthians Deliberative Council confirmed that he was not previously consulted about providing CD documents and said he cooperated with the Public Prosecutor’s request to “avoid institutional embarrassment.”

See below, in full, the statement sent to the report:

“No. As president of the Deliberative Council, I was not previously consulted or informed about any such action.

I only became aware of the fact when the Council’s secretary contacted me, informing me that the club’s legal director, Dr. Pedro Luís Soares, was requesting documents to deliver to prosecutor Dr. Cássio Conserino, who at that moment was demanding the Deliberative Council minutes relating to the votes on accounts between 2018 and 2025, as well as documents from the Fiscal Council.

I explained that the secretary responsible for the files was absent for health reasons and asked if it would be possible to send the documents the next day, but I was informed that the delivery needed to happen at that moment, as a seizure record would be drawn up.

Given this, to avoid institutional embarrassment for the Council and the employee who was on site accompanied by police officers, I tried to cooperate as much as possible, locating in my own email files—since every Council member has past minutes, as should the President, being a lifetime member—some minutes that I sent, also by email for printing and physical delivery as required.

I also clarified that the Fiscal Council minutes are not archived in the Deliberative Council, but are the responsibility of the respective secretaries of the Fiscal Council itself.

I reiterate, therefore, that there was no prior authorization from the president of the Deliberative Council for any action in his office. My actions were limited to seeking information and cooperating to avoid worsening a situation that was already underway without prior communication to the Council, and not to obstruct the Public Prosecutor’s action.”

3.5 million withdrawn in cash

The Public Prosecutor’s investigation identified withdrawals of about R$ 3.5 million in cash during Andrés Sanchez’s administration. The information was revealed by prosecutor Cássio Roberto Conserino after the operation carried out last Thursday. According to him, Corinthians committed to cooperate with the investigation and to open banking secrecy.

“Very productive meeting. We managed to outline a line of reasoning to present the necessary evidence to demonstrate the criminal materiality. We agreed to send the documentation regarding the spreadsheets that indicated cash advances for expenses,” said the prosecutor at Parque São Jorge.

According to the prosecutor, the material will be delivered by the club’s board “within ten days.”

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