Juventus investigated over false accounting claims
By Tom Gott
The Turin Public Prosecutor's Office have sent investigators to Juventus' headquarters to investigate allegations of financial mismanagement by the Bianconeri.
Police headed to offices in both Turin and Milan and seized plenty of paperwork relating to transfers, invoices and various other financial dealings, with transfer profits and agents fees between 2019 and 2021 the main subject of the investigation.
As first revealed by Corriere della Sera, six executives at the club are being looked into, including president Andrea Agnelli, deputy Pavel Nedved and former director Fabio Paratici, who left in the summer to join Tottenham Hotspur.
The process actually began back in May and has included all sorts of undercover activity, including wire tapping, and the initial concern was that €50m had been unaccounted for - most of which is alleged to have stemmed from the controversial swap deal between Arthur and Miralem Pjanic with Barcelona.
However, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, things have stepped up drastically and 42 transfers are now under intense scrutiny, with deals for Danilo, Joao Cancelo, Cristian Romero and Merih Demiral four of many others being investigated. The players themselves have not been accused of any wrongdoings.
Cristiano Ronaldo's contract is also being looked into. Again, the Portugal international is not believed to have done anything wrong, but Juventus' way of financing their payments to the striker have raised suspicion.
A statement released by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office read: “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.
“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.”