Justice gives Chapecoense an ultimatum and talks about ending judicial recovery

In an order published on the 10th, judge Ederson Tortelli, from the 1st Civil Court of Chapecó, summoned Chapecoense to present documents, questioned proof of donations made after the crash of the plane that killed 71 people and threatened that if the club did not pay the administrator, the judicial reorganization process may be terminated.

In part of the decision, he gives a period of 20 days for the association to deliver a long list of documents requested and that there is no more room for excuses.

“I clarify in advance that, without evidence, a new generic claim of difficulty in obtaining documents will not be admitted, since the debtor had more than eight months to do so”, he says.

With debts of about R$ 160 million, Chapecoense had a request for judicial recovery approved by the Justice in February this year. In practice, the measure suspends most of its debts and payments to creditors. Thus, the applicant can, in theory, focus on paying employee salaries, taxes and essential raw material for its operation.

consulted by SheetChapecoense has not yet commented.

One of the consequences of the judicial recovery was the club being released from paying the labor agreements with the families of the victims of what became known as the Chapecoense tragedy. In November 2016, the plane carrying the team to the Copa Sudamericana final crashed outside Medellín, Colombia. 71 people died.

Even before the approval of the judicial recovery, the association no longer honored the commitments with the families. Some stopped receiving in December 2021, others in January of this year.

Lawyer Carmen Schafauer was appointed judicial administrator. She started gathering documentation in recent years to understand the club’s financial situation. The debt payment plan must be approved by the creditors’ meeting. That hasn’t happened yet.

Carmen Schafauer did not respond to the report’s contacts.

According to the judge’s order, not even the administrator’s salaries were paid. She complained about it and the club made the payment in March of this year. He also promised to settle all arrears and keep them up to date from then on. That didn’t happen either.

“The debtor (…) committed as of next month [agosto deste ano] to continue the periodic execution of payments, as well as the rendering of accounts (…). That promise remained unfulfilled”, writes Tortelli. He summons Chapecoense to keep payments up to date “under penalty of extinction of the process” of the judicial recovery.

Chapecoense used the tragedy as an argument in its request for judicial recovery. He claimed that there was an “abrupt increase in expenses” after the plane crash and that there was no way to pay off his liabilities without compromising sports activities. Almost all the association’s debt refers to labor, tax, indemnity and operational obligations.

The judge’s text is based on a report prepared by Carmen, who detected doubts in the accountability of Chapecoense and two other companies controlled by it: AFCR (Associação Força Chape Reconstruction) and Chape Oficial Comércio de Material Esportivos. The administrator requested documentation that proves the receipt of donations of R$ 2,977,360.37 and documents that show that the amount was divided equally among the 68 families affected by the plane crash in 2016.

Tortelli also wants proof of receipt of BRL 3.8 million offered by a group of 15 companies, as well as proof of donation of BRL 148,000 collected by São Paulo in an auction. The Chapecó Justice asks for extracts from all bank accounts opened to receive contributions after the tragedy.

The court decision lists a series of other documents, explanations and rendering of accounts that Chapecoense should present in the evaluation for the judicial recovery and did not do so. The Justice wants to analyze notes on the reduction of social equity, details regarding the acquisition of a property, the reasons for “significant consecutive increases” in tax obligations and proof of payments made in expenses for carrying out departures.

Tortelli complains in the order that Chapecoense had been summoned on August 21 of this year and did not meet the 20-day deadline to present the documentation.

“The debtor is unjustifiably delaying the fulfillment of its duty of transparency towards the judiciary and, mainly, towards its creditors. It is worth noting that this duty of transparency was assumed by the debtor itself in its judicial recovery plan”, he emphasizes.

He recalls that, if the creditors’ meeting had already approved the proposal, such noncompliance could lead to Chapecoense’s bankruptcy filing.

Tortelli took advantage of the order to set the date for Chapecoense’s creditors meeting to approve the judicial recovery plan. It will be on March 2, 2023 at 9:30 am.