The clubs involved in Italian football's biggest-ever scandal raised howls of protest Tuesday at the stiff penalties requested by the Soccer Federation's (FIGC) prosecutor.
Stefano Palazzi called on a special FIGC tribunal to send champions Juventus down to the third division for its alleged role in a massive match-fixing scandal and asked it to relegate AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina to Serie B. "The requests for punishment are absolutely unfair," said Juventus lawyer Cesare Zaccone.
"The evidence does not justify the different penalties requested".
Palazzi also called for Juventus, whose former executives are believed to have been at the heart of the scam, to be stripped of its 2006 and 2005 titles and to start next season with a six-point penalty. "The request is simply unjust," said MP Maurizio Paniz, a member of former premier Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and the chairman of the Lower House's Juventus fan club.
The FIGC prosecutor wants Lazio and Fiorentina to start Serie B with a 15-point penalty, while he thinks Milan should kick off the season at -3. Berlusconi suggested his team, Milan, had been targeted as a way of getting at him for political reasons. "I am astonished and outraged by the prosecution's requests," Berlusconi said.
"Milan has never had favours from referees. On the contrary, it was the victim of favours referees gave to other clubs.
"It is difficult not to see political motives in this absurd, excessive request". The former premier was backed up by Forza Italia MP and Milan fan Maurizio Lupi. "It is summary injustice," Lupi said. "It is a spectacular outrage that the supporters will not accept". Lupi also hinted that Milan had been dragged into the thick of the scandal by FIGC investigator Francesco Saverio Borrelli, a former Clean Hands prosecutor who Forza Italia MPs have accused of holding left-wing sympathies.
In contrast, Economy Ministry Undersecretary Paolo Cento suggested Milan deserved to go down.
"Milan are not the real victims of the conspiracy, the fans who have been suffering for years are," said Cento, a member of the Green party. "Politicising the trial is an attempt by those who have governed soccer with deception for years to duck from their responsibilities".
Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastien Frey expressed his shock at the requests.
"We knew there was a risk of going down to B, but a 15-point penalty seems too much to me," the French footballer said.
Lazio lawyer Giammichele Gentile said he had the sensation that "a summary trial" was being staged and that "the sentence has already been written". Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga even argued the relegation requests will be to blame if Italy lose to Germany in Tuesday evening's World Cup semi-final.
On Tuesday Palazzi also called for sanctions for 26 club executives and FIGC officials involved in the scandal. Former Juve general manager Luciano Moggi, the alleged mastermind behind a network set up to steer matches in some clubs' favour, should be barred from any role in Italian soccer for five years and fined 5,000 euros for every offence committed, according to the FIGC prosecutor.
Five-year bans are also being sought for Lazio Chairman Claudio Lotito, Fiorentina owner Diego Della Valle, Fiorentina Chairman Andrea Della Valle, former FIGC head Franco Carraro and for a number of referee-appointers and referees.
Palazzi wants Milan no.2 and League chairman Adriano Galliani banished from the game for two years. In presenting the requests, he said the aim of the so-called 'Moggi-system' was to obtain "favourable refereeing (of games) for the clubs, especially Juve".
He argued that there was "incontestable proof" that the system for drawing referees was fixed to make sure the clubs involved were given 'friendly' officials. He said these gave the favoured teams the benefit of the doubt over tough calls.
Palazzi also dismissed claims that the wiretapped evidence which caused the furore could be explained away by the argument that the people speaking were joking. The FIGC is in a race against time to wrap up the sporting disciplinary process before UEFA holds the draws for next season's European club competitions at the end of the month.
Four separate criminal probes into the scandal are expected to reach the trial stage much later. State prosecutors are looking at different elements of the alleged web of corruption, which also extends to illegal betting, false accounting, doping and transfer fraud. The so-called Moggi-gate scandal is the biggest to hit the sport since a 1980 betting case in which Paolo Rossi - later Italy's 1982 World Cup hero - was among the players banned.
Lazio and Milan were relegated to Serie B as a result of that scandal.
