Despite the resignation of former Brazilian swimming federation president Miguel Cagnoni, the federation still decided to officially remove Cagnoni, making vice president Luiz Fernando Coelho the new president.
Officializing the removal did affect who took over the presidency. Cagnoni had passed his powers to former Olympic medalist Ricardo Prado when Cagnoni resigned. But with the General Assembly already convening to decide whether they should remove Cagnoni from his post, the removal effectively took the office from Prado by proxy, instead passing the presidency to vice president Coelho.
Cagnoni resigned over the weekend, citing health concerns in his family. He was already facing removal at the time. Heads of state federations convened in a General Assembly to vote on Cagnoni’s removal. Ten presidents of state federations attended the General Assembly, according to the CBDA website, and FINA observer Juan Orihuela was also present. Brazil’s Globo.com news site had previously reported that 12 of 27 presidents of state federations were planning to attend the assembly.
Cagnoni had come under fire for a lack of transparency and financial mis-management, per Globo.com. The CBDA owes about $1.6 million to the Brazilian Olympic Committee, the product of the CBDA’s failure to properly document travel expenses. The Brazilian aquatics federation already owed the Olympic Committee about $6 million from the previous administration, which was removed under allegations of fraud.
The assembly also appointed two new directors for the CBDA: Marcelo Juca takes over as legal director and Renato Cordani as general director, per the CBDA site.