Duilio responds to Corinthians body’s reservations regarding 2023 accounts

The reservations should heat up the political environment at the Deliberative Council meeting to vote on the approval of the balance sheet, next Monday.

After this columnist sent questions to the former president, Cori (Guidance Council) approved the report also with reservations. There were seven votes in favor of approval and five against.

According to a Cori member interviewed by the column, the observation about hirings that would not have been approved by Cori was excluded. A deficiency in the monthly publication of balance sheets and the lack of financial information about Neo Química Arena during 2023 were included.
Next, read the written interview given by Duilio to the column.

Perrone’s Blog – Have you read the Fiscal Council’s opinion on the 2023 financial statements recommending approval with reservations? If you have read it, do you consider the reservations relevant? Did you receive a request for an explanation from the CF regarding the reservations? Do you see a political nature in the opinion with reservations?
Duilio Monteiro Alves – I understand that independent analyzes have precisely the objective of contributing to the improvement of some processes and are always welcome. The external audit (RSM) itself, which gave us a favorable opinion without reservations for the accounts, also produced a report for internal consumption, to which the CF had access, indicating the improvements that can be adopted. Most of them are in the CF’s recommendations.
However, to answer your question, I did not receive any request for an explanation about the reservations and I believe that, if that had occurred, some of them would not have been present in the opinion, and some mistakes made would have been avoided. In any case, we are grateful and satisfied with the recommendation to approve the accounts.
Perrone’s Blog – In one of the reservations, the CF says that it draws attention to the fact that some contracts relating to debts with businesspeople were signed in the last days of 2023. The CF also says that these contracts draw attention due to the amounts involved and the period in which they form part of the debt. Can you explain why these contracts were signed in the last days of the year?
Duilio – These were agreements that renegotiated old debts that were close to statute of limitations and, when this occurs, agents run the risk of going to court, which could result in much greater losses for the club. In these situations, we are obliged to seek agreements on terms that are more advantageous for the club’s cash flow.
Blog – In the second caveat, the CF says that spending on services increased by R$43 million from 2022 to 2023. The increase in spending on a technical and administrative was 90,589.90%. With a company that provided separate security services, spending increased by 608.65%. The CF points out that it was not possible to analyze legal legality, legitimacy and convenience of these contracts. Do you remember what contracts these are? Were there such increases? If there were, what were the reasons for them?
Duilio – I don’t know how to tell you whether these percentages are valid, nor what basis of comparison is being used. I also regret that the Supervisory Board did not have time to carry out a more detailed analysis, as they themselves say. Especially because, with more time, they could have come to the conclusion that a large part of some increases are easily explainable. For example, the club had a large technology supply contract with IBM. At the time of the pandemic, in addition to the suspension of payments, a longer period was negotiated to settle the debt that the club already had with the company. The majority was paid in 2023, and it is very important to highlight that the agreement was completely paid off. Regarding security spending, there was a considerable increase in personnel due to the moments of crisis that football unfortunately went through throughout 2023, and it should not be forgotten that the polarized electoral year at the club also multiplies the total number of events held at the headquarters at hundreds, many with a high degree of tension.
Blog – The third caveat speaks to the great strangeness of the CF due to the fact that the budget review was only carried out at the end of the administration. It also highlights significant increases in some expenses. Do you see reasons for this strangeness on the part of the CF?

Duilio – I see no reason for this strangeness, since this is the responsibility of the Deliberative Council, which carried out the procedures without any deadline rules being contradicted and, finally, the budget review ended up being approved. Regarding the supposedly significant increases, we understand that, with more time for the CF to analyze the data, these concerns would have been easily resolved.
Blog – The sixth caveat points out that three cases of professional athletes hired in 2023 for a value exceeding 40 thousand minimum wages were identified, without approval from Cori, violating the statute. That happened?
Duilio – Absolutely not and, although I recognize and respect the serious work of the Fiscal Council, we are absolutely certain that no hiring violated the statute. Finally, I am pleased that the 2023 accounts were analyzed by three external and internal bodies (audit, CF and CORI) and a recommendation for approval was obtained. This shows that, even though there were political differences, all recommended processes were followed, and technical work prevailed.