Senator Romário (PL-RJ), who acted as rapporteur for the CPI on Game Manipulation and Sports Betting, declared this Tuesday (18) that the CPI was able to identify a pattern in criminal activity involving Brazilian football athletes and clubs.
Methods include recruiting players on low salaries through the promise of overseas contracts and contacting club directors in need of investment and infrastructure.
Romário presented his final report, which calls for the indictment of suspects and suggests new laws. A copy will be forwarded to agencies that deal with the issue of sports betting. The vote on the document will take place this Wednesday (19), starting at 2:30 pm.
International cooperation
According to the senator, Brazil needs to focus on international cooperation, since the problems related to sports manipulation have a “transnational” nature.
Romário recalled that betting companies sponsor almost all of Brazil’s elite teams. However, despite the financial increase for the clubs, there was a negative impact on the country’s popular economy, including among Bolsa Família beneficiaries.
Senator Romário also highlighted: “In fact, the current scenario of Brazilian football is at a delicate and worrying moment, in which the integrity of the most popular sport on the planet is being questioned.
An effort is needed to reverse the damage. The sports legal system also needs to face this new reality and improve its mechanisms to combat manipulation.”
Romário made himself available to his committee colleagues to discuss the information in the CPI’s final document and thanked all senators for their support. He recalled the work of the committee since its installation in April of last year and highlighted the hearings and the breaches of confidentiality.
For Kajuru, the Betting CPI was decisive for the arrest of the ‘king of relegations’
The chairman of the CPI, Senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO), stated that the report was written with great dedication by Senator Romário, whom he called a “rare human being and an impeccable public figure”.
According to Kajuru, Romário made a summary of all the hearings held by the CPI. “It was tireless work. The rapporteur acted with complete independence and total freedom,” he emphasized.
According to Kajuru, the CPI’s actions were also important for the arrest of businessman William Pereira Rogatto, known as the ‘king of relegations’.
In his testimony to the CPI in October of last year, Rogatto admitted to rigging football matches in Brazil. He also said that he had already earned approximately R$300 million in this scheme, which profits from the relegation of teams. He was arrested in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, in November.
Kajuru lamented the fact that the country’s justice system has not yet allowed the businessman’s extradition. The senator also suggested that, with the end of the CPI, the Sports Commission (CEsp) should hear the businessman when he returns to Brazil.
Criticism after the final report of the Bets CPI
The vice-president of the CPI, senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE), highlighted the “sensitivity” of Romário’s performance as senator and defined the report as “brilliant”, but stated that it has “omissions on crucial issues”.
“The uncomfortable silence on this aspect of the report needs to be reassessed. It is not good form for us to fail to explore all investigative possibilities,” said Senator Girão.
For Girão, the report should also address in “more depth” the appointment of Giovanni Rocco to the position of national secretary of Sports Betting at the Ministry of Sports.
Closing of the proceedings
Jorge Kajuru reported that he asked Senate President Davi Alcolumbre for more time so that the CPI could meet the demands of the pending requests, but said that the request was not accepted. According to Kajuru, there was also an agreement for the CPI to end its work with the vote on the final report this Wednesday.
