The bis process for capital gains is reopened and only Juventus pays. And with a sting: – 15 points in the standings and all the executives convicted. After more than four hours of deliberation, the Federal Court of Appeal not only accepted the request to put the Juventus club back in the dock, but also increased the penalties that the head of the prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè had asked for. It is a real tsunami on the standings (Allegri’s bianconeri drop from third to tenth place) and on the club’s future, now awaited by a possible second sporting trial, derived from the new Prisma investigation documents, in addition to the possible sanctions threatened by UEFA for the violation of financial fair play. In the meantime, the new Juve after Agnelli finds itself serving penalties for the old troubles: and it was only the first of the days of the ‘judgment’, the one in which the Federal Court of Appeal was called to evaluate the reopening of the sporting trial which in addition to Juve, eight other clubs were involved and which ended in acquittal last May.
For Samp, Genoa, Parma, Empoli, the old Novara, Pisa, Pescara and Pro Vercelli no condemnationas in the first procedure. Chinè’s had already appeared to be a tough fist, who had opened the hearing with all the participants remotely: the sporting prosecution had in fact asked for 9 penalty points for the black and whites, and 16 months of inhibition for Andrea Agnelli (for two days ex club president), 20 and 10 days for Paratici, 10 months for Cherubini, 12 for all the other directors. “The penalty must be afflictive, Juventus in the standings must now finish behind Roma, outside the European Cups area” the attorney motivated the request during the indictment.
“The acceptance of the appeal for revocation by the Federal Court of Appeal, it seems to us, constitutes a clear unequal treatment to the detriment of Juventus and its managers compared to any other club or registered player”. The lawyers of the Juventus club, Bellacosa, Sangiorgio and Apa, declared it to ANSA. “We are waiting to read the reasons for presenting the appeal to the Sports Guarantee College: we highlight that only Juve is attributed with the violation of a rule, which the sports justice had recognized did not exist. This is a blatant injustice“.
Juventus “awaits the publication of the reasons and announces the appeal to the Sports Guarantee College in terms of the Sports Justice Code”. The Juventus club writes it in a note. The Federal Court of Appeal declared the appeal for revocation admissible and revoked the ruling of the Federal Court of Appeal of 27 May 2022 and ordered the penalty of 15 points in the standings for Juventus to be served in the current season and the temporary inhibition for DS Cherubini, 16 months to carry out activities within the FIGC, with a request for an extension for UEFA and FIFA”.
“Appeal inadmissible”, the words of the Bianconeri’s defence in the absence of “new facts” compared to the trial already held months ago and which had acquitted everyone. The Juventus lawyers relied on the juridical principle according to which “no one can be prosecuted or criminally convicted by the jurisdiction of the same State for a crime for which he has already been acquitted or convicted”. The FIGC Prosecutor’s Office, defeated in the first round on the capital gains affair, had wanted to reopen the proceeding in the light of the Prisma criminal investigation of the Turin Prosecutor’s Office, the one crammed with interceptions, documents, and the ‘black book of FP’, with the operations of the market of the former ds Paratici precisely.
“None of the elements valued by the Federal prosecutor’s office” in the context of transfer market operations “demonstrates the existence of an artificial over-evaluation of the rights to sports performances of players in the aforementioned operations, thereby making today’s appeal completely unfounded” he maintained Juventus defense. Who had more than one questioning with the Public Prosecutor during the hearing on the use of the capital gains: Chinè underlined that according to his indictment the contested ones served to cover the losses; the defenders of the black and white club retorted that the capital gains in question, for 60 million, represent only 3.6% of revenues. In particular, they underlined, in the years to which the prosecution refers, the company called 700 million in capital increases, over three years it had revenues of 1,675 million and out of a total of 323 million in capital gains, the 60 million disputed by Chinè are the 18% of the total and, precisely, 3.6% of revenues.
For Juve it is a new Calciopoli: managers also pay even if they are now ex: 24 months in Agnelli and 30 in Paratici, 16 months in ds Cherubini, 8 months also to Paolo Garimberti: more than what Chinè had asked for. Juve sinks in the standings and, amidst penal trials (there is also the story of false accounting) also risks in Europe.
