Italy's highest appeals court has
cancelled a prison sentence against ex-Juventus executive
Luciano Moggi in a notorious match-fixing case known as
'Xalciopoli' because it timed out, the Cassation Court ruled
early Tuesday.
The court said the sentence against former Juventus chief
executive Antonio Giraudo also timed out.
Further, the high court upheld an earlier court decision to
acquit referees Paolo Bertini and Antonio Dattilo on the charges
that date from 2006.
Moggi expressed relief at the high-court ruling.
"This is an unpleasant thing, because this process is
abnormal and has resolved nothing, it only created so many
expenses," said Moggi.
Four defendants in the Calciopoli case were originally
sentenced in December 2009 on charges of criminal association
aimed at committing sports fraud.
The original trial judge condemned "the existence of a
conspiracy to affect the outcome of soccer championships".
The case centered on allegations that Moggi and Giraudo
worked with Italian football federation officials to influence
refereeing assignments in order to have compliant refs officiate
at some of the Juventus games.
Moggi was originally sentenced to five years and four
months and both Giraudo and Moggi were banned from football for
life.
Seven other defendants - three ex-refs, one ref still
officiating at the time of the trials, and three former linesmen
- were ultimately acquitted in the scandal.
Many Italian teams were implicated in the scandal, but
champions Juventus were worst hit.
The Turin giants were stripped of two Serie A titles and
demoted to the second tier as a result of the scandal, where
they stayed a season before winning promotion back to the top
flight.
Moggi was banned from sport for five years and, when the
suspension ran out, the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC)
extended it to the rest of his life.
That ruling was upheld by the Italian Olympic Committee
(CONI), Italian sport's governing body, and by the Lazio
regional administrative court.
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