August 9 – Former director Rubens Gomes has said that organised crime is infiltrating Corinthians after police interrogated him over the breakdown of the club’s partnership with Vaidebet.
“He (the delegate) asked questions about VaideBet, if there was an intermediary, I said no, confirmed by (Alex) Cassundé that there was no intermediary,” Gomes told Globo. “The trio VaideBet, Augusto (Melo – club president), Sérgio Moura and Marcelinho, are still in the spotlight.”
“My biggest concern is organised crime taking hold at Corinthians. Corinthians is a family club and we need to be careful about that,” Gomes said. “An institution is above all, above any vanity. If the Board doesn’t remove Augusto, justice will remove him.”
In June, VaideBet terminated its contract with the Paulista giants amid a police probe into money-laundering allegations.
It was alleged that a third-party organisation, linked to an intermediary between both the club and company, had illegally profited from the contract. The deal had been the most lucrative in Brazilian history with Corinthians receiving reportedly almost $70 million.
The blog of influential journalist Juca Kfouri first alleged that Social Media Design, the company that brokered the contract, allegedly transferred money to Neoway Soluções Integradas em Serviços Ltda.
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