Political war: Olten Ayres axes ethics duo over trust breach | OneFootball

The president of São Paulo’s Deliberative Council, Olten Ayres, removed two members of the club’s Ethics Committee, including the body’s president, Antonio Maria Patiño Zorz.

In a statement released by Olten late this Friday (3), the removal of Antonio, as well as councilman Marcelo Felipe Nelli Soares, known as Marcelo Gatto, came “after the finding of facts that compromised the trust necessary to perform their duties.”

The cases that had been under the responsibility of the suspended Tricolor council members will now be handled by the remaining members of the Committee, Milton José Neves Jr., Luiz Augusto Lia Braga and José Edgard Galvão Machado, who will also appoint new replacements for the vacant positions.

The justification for removing Antonio Maria Patiño from the presidency of the Ethics Committee was that he was conducting disciplinary proceedings in a manner incompatible with the independence and impartiality required for the position.

Marcelo Gatto, meanwhile, was punished for some of his social media posts, which show a close relationship with an agent for players who are involved in a legal dispute against São Paulo.

“It’s no wonder São Paulo is where it is. I’m accused of political bias when I’ve been working on the Ethics Committee for five years and trying, together with all the members, to make it an exempt and impartial committee,” Antonio Maria Patiño told Globo Esporte.

POLITICAL FIGHT

The new “political battle” comes after Olten faced disciplinary proceedings before the same Ethics Committee of Tricolor, in which his removal from the Deliberative Council was recommended.

Olten Ayres was responding to an accusation of reckless management filed by São Paulo president Harry Massis. During the process, the Ethics Committee recommended his preventive suspension until its conclusion, but Olten himself temporarily stepped aside from the presidency of the Council.

Later, the recommendation was rejected by the club’s council members by a vote of 120 to 118. Thus, Ayres returned to the presidency, but the disciplinary proceedings against him have still not been concluded within São Paulo’s Deliberative Council.

Read Olten’s full official statement:

“The President of the Deliberative Council of São Paulo Futebol Clube, Olten Ayres de Abreu Junior, ordered this Friday the immediate removal of Antonio Maria Patiño Zorz from the presidency of the Ethics Committee and of Councilman Marcelo Felipe Nelli Soares (Marcelo Gatto) from the Ethics Committee.

The decision was made after the finding of facts that compromised the trust necessary for the performance of their duties.

In the case of Antonio Maria Patiño Zorz, the removal is related to the handling of disciplinary proceedings in a manner incompatible with the independence and impartiality required for the presidency of the Committee, given conduct in defense of interests of a political nature, a situation that also affected the progress of cases in the Deliberative Council.

The removal of Marcelo Felipe Nelli Soares (Marcelo Gatto), in turn, stems from recent social media posts showing a close relationship with an agent for athletes who is engaged in a legal dispute against São Paulo Futebol Clube, a situation considered incompatible with the role of a member of the Ethics Committee.

The removals take immediate and final effect within the Ethics Committee.

The cases currently under the responsibility of the two council members will be transferred to the remaining members of the Committee, who will continue processing them. Among them, the coordinator responsible for conducting the work until the Committee is reconstituted will be defined.

The two vacancies will be filled as a matter of urgency through the appointment of the respective replacements. New procedures will continue to be assigned according to the criteria already established, ensuring the continuity of the work and the regular processing of the cases.”

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