A Brazilian court struck down an injunction Thursday, allowing Coaracy Nunes to return to his post as president of the Brazilian Swimming Federation despite allegations of fraud.
Nunes was one of four officials in the CBDA – the federation governing swimming and aquatic sports in Brazil – who were removed from their positions after the federation was accused of fraud and embezzlement. Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry pushed for the removal after it said it found evidence of misappropriation of funds, fraud, overbilling and embezzlement within the federation. The Federal Court of Sao Paulo agreed, and removed Nunes and the four from office.
But the federation claimed the investigation was unfair, that the CBDA wasn’t allowed to explain the alleged hangups in its budget and that the removal of the officers made it difficult for the federation to move forward in governing its sports. The CBDA even suspended all of its salaries and the sanctioning of all of its national championship meets, blaming the move on the removal of the officers and the investigation into the federation books. The Federal Public Ministry called the federation’s complaints “false” and a “distortion of facts.” The CBDA did eventually announce that it would hold its next three major national championship events, the Brazil Open, the Youth Championships and the Children’s Championships.
Now, Globo.com reports that the CBDA’s lawyer, Marcelo Franklin, filed an injunction last week to halt the suspension of the four officials, and that a Sao Paulo court agreed. The four can now return to their posts. That news broke a few hours after a Globol.com story reported that the CBDA would make a major push to prove its innocence in order to get back its officials and stop what it said was a loss of sponsorships and contracts as the federation moved forward without a president.
The injunction on the suspension also calls for a review of the Federal Public Ministry for its legal action against Nunes and the CBDA. Nunes has been the president of the Brazilian Swimming Federation since 1988 and is expected to run for re-election again next year.
AB