Federal prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè has informed Juventus that the investigation into them on three separate fronts has concluded. The Bianconeri were under the spotlight for the payment of player wages during their COVID pandemic, their partnerships with a number of other clubs and agents and alleged inflated capital gains relating to the transfer of certain players.
Corriere della Sera report that Andrea Agnelli, Fabio Paratici, Pavel Nedved, Federico Cherubini, Giovanni Manna, Paolo Morganti, Stefano Braghin, and Cesare Gabasio may yet face another sports trial. Meanwhile, Atalanta, Udinese, Sampdoria, Sassuolo, Cagliari, and Bologna are expected to be looked at in due course, given that the respective public prosecutors in their various jurisdictions have just begun their investigations.
Juventus are now expected to submit their defence in the coming two weeks after which Chinè will follow up with a decision that will involve referring them, a dismissal of the investigation or a plea bargain. There’s a suggestion that the Bianconeri could consider the final option in an effort to contain the situation and speed up the process.
The potential trial is expected to go ahead at the end of May and could run the course of the summer, if appeals are to be factored in. The accusation is that Juventus violated ‘sports loyalty’ in general with the club releasing their own statement, outlining their stance on the situation:
Juventus Football Club S.p.A. informs that the Federal Prosecutor’s Office before the F.I.G.C. (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) notified Juventus and some of its current and former officers the Notice of conclusion of investigations relating the so-called “2019/2020 sport season’s salary manoeuvre”, the so-called “2020/2021 sport season’s salary manoeuvre”, the relationships between the Company and certain sport agents, as well as certain alleged “partnership” between Juventus and other clubs. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office, also by virtue of alleged accounting violations, has hypothesized the violation of article 4, paragraph 1, of Sport Justice Code.
By virtue of the reasons already explained, inter alia, in the Annual Financial Report at 30 June 2022 and in the Consolidated Half-Yearly Financial Report at 31 December 2022, the Company believes that it has correctly applied the relevant international accounting standards, as well as that it has operated in full compliance with sport loyalty’s principle. For further information, please refer to the aforementioned financial reports as well as the press releases issued by the Company on 2 December 2022 and 24 March 2023.
It is pointed out that the Notice transmitted does not constitute the exercise of disciplinary action by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office; the Company will now be able to access the documentation and articulate its defenses within the terms provided by the Sport Justice Code.
