May 6 – Brazilian congresswoman Daniela Carneiro has asked the country’s Supreme Court (STF) to immediately remove Ednaldo Rodrigues (pictured) from the presidency of the Brazilian FA.
Carneiro, a member of the centre-right party União Brasil, has called on the STF to remove the boss of the Brazilian game because of an alleged forged signature by Colonel Nunes on a document that legitimised Rodrigues’s 2022 election.
A former CBF president, Nunes served as a vice-president during the first term of Rodrigues, who was re-elected last month.
Brazilian media report that Carneiro’s petition says that Nunes’ signature on the agreement “was not made freely and consciously and under full mental faculties” and “reasonable doubts arise about the authenticity of the signature.” The head of the CBF’s legal department should also have stated that Nunes “did not have the physical and cognitive conditions to express his acceptance of any condition presented to him.”
In 2017, the Public Prosecutor’s Office filed a Public Civil Action against changes to the CBF’s electoral statute, arguing that the amendments shifted power away from clubs and concentrated it in the hands of state federations. In March 2022, the Prosecutor’s Office and the CBF reached an agreement to drop the case, with the federation pledging to reform its statute.
That agreement was later overturned by the Rio de Janeiro State Court of Justice in December 2023, leading to the removal of Rodrigues. In January 2024, Supreme Federal Court Justice Gilmar Mendes granted an injunction that reinstated Rodrigues to the post.
Mendes is an ally of Rodrigues. Leading magazine Piaui exposed a million-dollar contract between the CBF Academy and an entity linked to Mendes.
In a statement, the CBF wrote: “In view of the recent news reports in the press about an alleged defect of will in the signature contained in the agreement approved by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), which recognised the legitimacy of the election of President Ednaldo Rodrigues, the CBF clarifies that it has not yet had formal access to the aforementioned expert report, supposedly signed by a private expert, which is being used in a media-driven and hasty manner, in a true sensationalism that serves interests that are anything but republican and apparently questioned by third parties completely unrelated to the process.”
“The CBF emphasises that all acts related to the aforementioned agreement were conducted within the law and with the participation of duly authorised representatives. The process was legitimate and the agreement was approved.”
“It is absolutely untrue that this process was reopened at the request of a parliamentarian. The CBF has full confidence in the Brazilian justice system and remains at the disposal of the competent authorities to clarify any doubts that may arise.”
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