A tax-fraud probe has caused
new woes for Italian soccer, hit by a string of scandals over
the last 10 years.
Some 64 former and current executives and players have been
placed under investigation on suspicion of evading taxes and
issuing false invoices in the buying and selling of players in
the 'Fuorigioco' (Offside) probe.
Transfer deals reportedly involving Juventus, AC Milan and
Lazio were among those suspected of being tainted, police said.
Finance police early on Tuesday searched the premises of
some 30 soccer players and agents and seized assets worth 12
million euros in the probe.
Those under investigation include former Juventus CEO
Jean-Claude Blanc, Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis, AC
Milan CEO Adriano Galliani, Lazio President Claudio Lotito, ex
Napoli striker Ezequiel Lavezzi, ex Milan, Inter, Chelsea and
Parma striker Hernan Crespo, and agent Alessandro Moggi.
Atalanta defender on loan from Milan and Italy national
team player Gabriel Paletta, Torino (on loan from Sevilla) and
Italy striker Ciro Immobile, Milan midfielder Antonio Nocerino,
Atalanta striker German Denis, and ex Pescara player Fernando
Quintero are among those under investigation, along with
ex-Inter striker Diego Milito and former Fiorentina and Juventus
striker Adrian Mutu.
Naples prosecutors on Tuesday said Crespo evaded two
million euros in Italian taxes, agent Moggi evaded one million
euros, and Galliani evaded 240,000 euros.
The probe by Naples prosecutors began in 2012 and involves
35 Series A and B football clubs and 100 individuals.
AC Milan, Lazio, De Laurentiis and Moggi were among those
who denied wrongdoing, saying the suspicions were unfounded.
Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) chief Giovanni Malagò said
the case should be cleared up as soon as possible.
"It's essential that everything should be clarified as soon
as possible, also to make sure the people currently being
investigated do not become guilty in the eyes of public
opinion", he said on the sidelines of a CONI executive meeting
at Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The Naples probe is one of several that have hit Italian
soccer in recent years.
On February 18, a preliminary hearing will take place
regarding allegations Antonio Conte and 103 other people
committed match-fixing felonies.
Cremona preliminary hearings judge Pierpaolo Beluzzi is
set to decide whether to grant prosecutors' requests to indict
Conte and the other suspects.
Conte is suspected of sporting fraud in relation to
alleged attempts to fix a match against AlbinoLeffe when he was
in charge of Siena in the second tier, Serie B, in the 2010-11
season.
Among the other suspects are Lazio midfielder Stefano
Mauri, former Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni and former Siena
chairman Massimo Mezzaroma.
Last year prosecutors dropped a more serious charge
against Conte, that of criminal association, as well as
allegations linked to another match, against Novara, also in the
2010-11 season campaign.
Conte served a four-month ban while at Juventus at the
start of the 2012-2013 season after being found by a sporting
tribunal to have failed to report alleged match-fixing related
to the AlbinoLeffe and Novara matches.
The indictment request said Conte broke an agreement
between the nation's coaches and the Italian Soccer Federation
(FIGC) which stipulates that coaches must "safeguard the moral
conduct of players".
The Cremona-based Last-Bet probe, which started in 2011
and uncovered a web of match-fixing linked to international
gangs making money from betting, has already led to many fines
and suspensions for many players and points deductions for
clubs.
But it is only one of several match-fixing scandals to
hit Italian soccer recently.
Last August Catania were demoted from the second to third
tier after Chairman Antonino Pulvirenti had confessed to paying
to fix five matches to ensure the Sicilian club did not get
relegated from Serie B the previous season.
In May police said they had found a massive ring to fix
matches in the third and fourth tiers of Italian football for
betting scams.
Juventus were relegated and stripped of two Serie A titles
for involvement in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal in 2006,
just ahead of the World Cup Italy won that year under Marcello
Lippi.
That scandal - in which Alessandro Moggi's father Luciano,
Juve general manger, was the ringleader - regarded schemes to
have compliant referees officiate some teams' matches.
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