Italian Serie A giants, Juventus, are under investigation for accounting fraud which is connected with the capital gains cases in Serie A.
A report by Italian publication, La Gazzetta Dello Sport claimed that Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, Vice-President Pavel Nedved, and former sporting director Fabio Paratici, now at Tottenham Hotspur are being investigated over false accounting of capital gains.
According to the report, the three principal officers of the club and three others who were not mentioned, are suspected to have failed to account for €50 million within three seasons.
The false accounting reportedly took place between 2018 and 2021, around the era the club signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid for €100 million. The transfer deal was the most expensive transfer for an Italian club and the most expensive transfer for a player over 30 years old.
The 36-year-old Argentine football icon left the club in August 2021 and returned to Manchester United where he played between 2003 and 2009.
However, the report from the Italian publication did not mention Ronaldo’s transfer deal in the capital gains cases.
It claimed that the Turin Public Prosecutors are investigating 42 transfers – including deals involving Miralem Pjanic, Arthur, Danilo, and Joao Cancelo. Juventus have questions to answer over the gains made from the transfer deals and agents’ fees in the last three seasons which were not accounted for.
Also, the report claimed that the Guardia di Finanza stormed Juventus’ office, Continassa, earlier today, November 27 to retrieve documents from the club which would aid the ongoing investigation.
The case was opened by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office after CONSOB and COVISOC investigations into the capital gains cases in Serie A in July 2021.
“Since this 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”, a statement released by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office read.
“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.
“At present, the activities are aimed at ascertaining the crime of false communications from listed companies and issuing invoices for non-existent transactions, towards the top management and the managers of the business, financial and sports management areas.
“Under consideration there are various transfer operations of professional players and the services rendered by some agents involved in the relative intermediaries.”
