General view of the corner flag inside the stadium before the Juventus v Parma match in Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy, January 19, 2020. — Reuters pic
MILAN, Nov 27 — Italy’s financial police have searched Juventus’ offices in a probe into player transfers, with prosecutors looking into potentially false information on the Serie A club’s balance sheets.
In a statement released late yesterday, the Turin public prosecutor’s office said they were investigating deals that took place over the past three seasons, and the way annual financial results between 2019 and this year had been formulated.
Juve are being investigated for making false communications to investors and issuing invoices for non-existent transactions, prosecutors said.
According to Italian media six Juve directors are under investigation, including chairman Andrea Agnelli, vice-chairman and former player Pavel Nedved, and former sporting director Fabio Paratici, who is now at Tottenham Hotspur.
News Agency ANSA claimed on Saturday morning that prosecutors were also looking into the club’s dealings with Cristiano Ronaldo, who arrived to great fanfare in the summer of 2018 and fled to Manchester United in August.
Last month the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) launched an investigation of its own into a series of suspicious transfers, with the majority of the deals under the microscope involving Juve.
The operations are suspected of being carried out with the aim of inflating the value of certain players for accounting purposes, or using player exchanges to help balance the books. — AFP