CONI-govt spat over sports vigilance agency

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 6 - A spat has broken out between the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the governing body for sport in Italy, and the government over reports of plans to set up an economic and financial oversight agency for professional sporting clubs.
    In an interview with daily newspaper La Repubblica, CONI President Giovanni Malagò complained that he had heard about the plan from news reports and had only subsequently managed to get a draft of it from the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC).
    He said there risk of the move making Italy an international embarrassment as it would amount to political interference in the world of sport, especially soccer.
    "I say this frankly. I have serious doubts about whether this can be accepted by the international sporting bodies," Malagò said.
    Sport and Youth Minister Andrea Abodi hit back, stressing that what Malagò had seen was only a draft and saying that the "language used by the Coni president does not seem the most formal considering the circumstances.
    "We are all at the service of the general interest," the minister said. (ANSA).