Rome – There is no rest for football justice in Italy, where the latest match-fixing investigation is overshadowing the final stages of an older corruption case.
The disciplinary commission of the Italian football federation (FIGC) late Wednesday banned for life three key figures in a scandal that rocked the Serie A in 2006.
Juventus ex managers Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo were then found guilty of intimidating referees and their selectors during two Serie A seasons.
They were suspended for five years, along with Innocenzo Mazzini, then vice president of FIGC, pending a life ban that has now been handed down.
Juventus paid for their managers' behaviour with relegation to the Serie B and had two titles stripped. AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio received point deductions.
Various club managers, referees and selectors were suspended for creating a network where game officials were either sweet-talked or bullied into favouring certain teams in exchange for privileged career tracks.
Hundreds of tapped telephone calls where clubs discussed the choice of referees, or the episode of Moggi locking one of them in a changing room for failing to favour Juve, gave an idea of what prosecutors unveiled.
Moggi, who is also on trial in a penal court, said he will appeal the life ban at a higher sports court, while Juve await a further sports verdict regarding the 2006 title.
The Turin side want back the scudetto that was awarded to second-placed Inter Milan. Juve also won the title of 2005, which remained unassigned.
Stefano Palazzi, the FIGC chief prosecutor, is to rule on the case by the end of June.
But his office is now swamped with a new match-fixing case that public prosecutors opened earlier this month.
Investigators in Cremona are looking into an alleged scheme to bribe footballers in the three professional leagues in order to legally bet on rigged games.
Giuseppe Signori, a former striker with Lazio and Bologna, was released from house arrest on Tuesday, but remains under investigation with 15 other people, including active and former footballers and owners of betting agencies.
Investigations began six months ago in Cremona, where the local lower-division club alerted police that five players were given a sedative before a game.
With the probe branching to other towns, Palazzi, who is also a magistrate in a military court, has begun to receive papers from investigators, who have collected thousands of tapped calls.
The workload appears to have put the handful of FIGC prosecutors on the ropes, suggesting a call for support from the ministry of interior, who promised to provide manpower.
FIGC, however, have come under criticism for their slow reaction to a report from a footballer of lower-division Sassuolo, who on May 8 denounced an attempted extortion from a person who was then arrested with Signori and others.
FIGC president Giancarlo Abete said the player was to be heard on June 1, the day when the arrests were made, and that “the interrogation scheduled by Palazzi's office was overridden by the events.”
The explanation sounded little convincing, as Abete added that he would feel more worried if corruption regarded club managers.
Praise for the investigation came from Michel Platini, the president of European body Uefa.
“We foresaw this already years ago (in 2009),” Platini said. “We told it to everyone and by now national and international authorities are aware of (corruption).
“This is good. It is late, but better late than never.” – Sapa-dpa