As the corruption scandal in Italian clubs gets murkier Diego della Valle, owner of the Serie A club Fiorentina told magistrates that his club is the in fact a ‘victim’ of the corrupt soccer system the authorities are uncovering and not perpetrators of the crimes that are being investigated by them.
Point to note is that Della Valle is one of about forty people under investigation for allegedly forming what is termed as a - ‘criminal organization’ involved in rigging games in the 2004-05 Serie A season.
Others under the scanner are:
a) Nine referees,
b) Franco Carraro who is former Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) chief and
c) Lazio Chairman Claudio Lotito
d) Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi, who is alleged ringleader .
Anyway, just before meeting the magistrates, Francesco Picca, Valle’s lawyer said;
We are here to clarify Fiorentina’s position. It should be clear that we are victims of the system, not accomplices.
Tapped transcripts of phone conversations leaked to the press seem to suggest Della Valle tried influence FIGC to assign friendly officials to his club Fiorentina games that flirted with being demoted at the end of the 2004-05 season due to a string of poor performances.
Anyway, prosecutors in four cities are looking at a wide spectrum of the corrupt activities that was allegedly carried out by the ‘criminal organization’ formed by the powerful honchos of the Serie A clubs. They are investigating things like illegal betting, false counting, transfer fraud and doping among many other things.
The scandal seemed to be so widespread that an overwhelming majority of Serie A clubs are suspected of involvement in varying degrees.
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