Juventus under investigation for false accounting
Juventus are never a million miles away from a scandal – see Calciopoli – and reports have emerged of the club being under investigation for false accounting.
Six hierarchical members of Juventus, including Andrea Agnelli, vice-president Pavel Nedved and former sporting director Fabio Paratici are under investigation for their shady work in the transfer market between 2019 and 2021.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Guardia di Finanza arrived at Continassa on Friday to gather the required information and documents concerning the aforementioned period. They’re particularly suspicious of the club’s capital gains after initial inspections were launched by Turin prosecutors CONSOB and COVISOC.
Those prosecutors claim a movement of €50m has taken place, with COVISOC keen to investigate some cases relating to capital gains operations further. The swap deal with Barcelona that saw Arthur Melo and Miralem Pjanic move in opposite directions is of particular interest.
The press release from the Public Prosecutor’s Office
Regarding the ongoing investigation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office released a statement: “Since Friday afternoon, on the orders of this Public Prosecutor’s Office, soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza have been carrying out local searches at the Turin and Milan offices of Juventus Football Club Spa.
“The financiers of the Turin Economic-Financial Police Unit, delegated to the investigations, were instructed to find documentation and other useful elements relating to the company financial statements approved in the years from 2019 to 2021, with reference to both the purchase and sale of rights to the sports performance of the players, and the regular formation of financial statements,” they added.
“Currently, the activities are aimed at ascertaining the hypothesis of the crime of false communications from listed companies and issuing invoices for non-existent transactions.”
The investigation, called ‘Prisma’ began in May 2021.
What could happen to Juventus?
Unsurprisingly, speculation has already arisen regarding Juventus’ potential punishment should they be found guilty of false accounting.
Nicolo Schira reports that on a sporting level, the club could pick up a hefty fine and a points deduction. Schira adds that false accounting is a crime punishable by imprisonment, meaning those involved, should they be found guilty, may earn a similar fate to Luciano Moggi in the wake of Calciopoli.
However, that is mere speculation at this stage.