The scandal rocking the Italian soccer world on Thursday felled Juventus General Manager Luciano Moggi and the rest of the board of Turin team, which is set to clinch its 29th scudetto on Sunday. Moggi, 68, one of the most powerful figures on the Italian soccer scene, is at the centre of judicial and sporting probes into his business interests as well as suspected illicit relations with a referee-appointer.
A brief statement released after a short meeting said only that the board had "handed in its resignation and had convened a shareholders meeting on June 29". The board meeting took place a day after judicial sources revealed that Turin prosecutors were probing Juventus CEO Antonio Giraudo for false accounting.
The scandal broke last week with the publication of wiretaps ordered by Turin prosecutors, recorded as part of a doping probe before and after the start of the 2004-5 season. In them, Moggi asks referee-appointer Pier Luigi Pairetto to name "good" refs for three pre-season friendlies and chats with him about the refs assigned to two Champions League matches.
The content of the tapped conversations was explosive as it seemed to confirm Italian fans' age-old suspicions that the refs favour Juve.
The publication of the wiretaps coincided with the revelation that Naples and Rome prosecutors have been probing for some time the management company that handles most of Italian player transfers, GEA World. GEA is owned by Moggi's son Alessandro, who is also being investigated.
The prosecutors are reportedly looking into alleged cases of "illegal competition with threats and violence" and abuse of a "dominant position" on the market. Naples' prosecutors, who are also investigating illegal football gambling, suspect that GEA was a "system" or power lobby through which Moggi extended his control over the entire soccer world, judicial sources said on Thursday.
The hullaballoo raised by the publication of the wiretapped conversations has already cost Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) President Franco Carraro his job and has prompted politicians and influential sports commentators to call for a sweeping overhaul of Italian soccer.
FIGC vice-President Innocenzo Mazzini also resigned on Thursday, following publication of conversations with Moggi in which they discussed the Juventus delegate who would be attending a meeting on refereeing appointments. Referees have been dragged into the scandal because as a result of the probes, their telephone conversations were also tapped during the 2004-05 season.
Massimo De Santis, Italy's top referee, is battling for his place at this summer's World Cup after it emerged thatNaples prosecutors have placed him under investigation there for alleged sporting fraud.
De Santis knows the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) cannot send an official tainted with alleged involvement in criminal activity to Germany 2006 and is desperate to clear his name. According to the next edition of Italian news magazine
L'Espresso, which hits the newsstands on Friday, Naples prosecutors have also officially placed Carraro, Pairetto and his colleague Paolo Bergamo on a list of people being probed.
Meanwhile, the sports media reported on Thursday that the scandal is destined to snowball and include other Italian clubs.
