(ATR) New and unpleasant events in the Brazilian sports leadership in recent days are overshadowing the impact of the elections for the National Olympic Committee (COB).
On the eve of the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang last month, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to lift the suspension of the COB after deciding it was not involved in any of the irregularities that its president, Carlos Nuzman, who has since been replaced, is accused. He is under house arrest awaiting trial on charges he tried to buy votes for Rio de Janeiro's bid to host the 2016 Olympics.
This is not the only scandal to be occupying space in the Brazilian sports press, however.
Carlos Fernandes, the president of the Brazilian Confederation of Taekwondo (CBTKd) until 2016, was sentenced on Friday to six years and four months in prison for fraud by a Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro.
He was among a group accused of irregularities inpurchasing sports materials with public money in an agreement with the Ministry of Sports.
This is the first time that a sports official has been convicted in the country for misusing public money in the running of a sports confederation, according to Brazilian press reports.
Fernandes can appeal the decision.
Some leaders such as Nuzman and Coaracy Nunes, former president of the Brazilian Confederation of Water Sports, have been arrested but not convicted.
Last Sunday, two days after he was defeated in the COB election, the president of the Brazilian Athletics Confederation (CBAt) Toninho Fernandes announced his resignation. The decision came a day before the regular meeting that would discuss his potential legal troubles.
It is speculated that he had been under pressure to step down since the publication of a report in a Brazilian blog about possible fraud in an agreement between the CBAt and the Secretariat of Sports, Leisure and Youth of the State of São Paulo (SELJ).
SELJ had opened a preliminary procedure to investigate the case.
In his letter of resignation Fernandes said he was leaving "for reasons of health, having undergone two surgeries in six months, and on the verge of passing through a third".
On Monday, Vice-President Warlindo Carneiro was elected CBAt's new president. Hemade it clear that one of his top management advisers will be Roberto Gesta, 73, who was president of the organization for 25 years, between 1987 and 2012, and is a member of the International Athletics Federation (IAAF).
The General Assembly of the Brazilian Basketball Confederation (CBB) met on Monday for the first time under new statutes calling for the participation of athletes, clubs and coaches. It was decided that former president Carlos Nunes would be immediately banned for 10 years from occupying or being elected to any position in the CBB or its affiliates due to reckless management. In addition, the meeting resolved that appropriate judicial measures be taken regarding unlawful acts of CBB management.
The decision was taken after current president Guy Peixoto revealed anaudit report showing a serious financial situation at the CBB due to accumulated debt over recent years.
Reported by Miguel Hernandez.
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