The scandal which is rocking the foundation of Italian football snowballed on Friday as prosecutors widened their probes and police searched the headquarters of the soccer federation and referees' association.
Naples prosecutors said they were investigating 19 matches from the 2004-05 Serie A season for suspected match-fixing and announced they had informed 41 people they were under investigation.
The news came as carabinieri police swooped on the headquarters of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and the Referees' Association (IAI) to seize documents and other evidence. Police later searched the home of former FIGC president Franco Carraro, who resigned on Monday.
Carraro, Juventus General Manager Luciano Moggi and CEO Antonio Giraudo as well as top referees and officials from Serie A clubs Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were among the 41 being probed, chief prosecutor Giandomenico Lepore said. According to Italian legal procedures, prosecutors must formally notify suspects they are being investigated but it does not necessarily mean they will then be indicted.
Carraro, former head of the Soccer League and chairman of Milan, stressed this point, telling reporters he had been probed several times but had always been cleared. "I'm not worried because I know I have always acted with integrity," said Carraro, adding that he was certain he would be able to "prove my honesty".
The 41 individuals, including the owner of Fiorentina, footwear tycoon Diego della Valle, are suspected of fraud, including sporting fraud, embezzlement and being a part of a criminal association. Magistrates said that not all were suspected of
involvement in every charge.
According to the prosecutors, the "kernel of power lurked" in Juventus, Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina although other clubs are suspected of having taken part in illegal activities. Moggi, who is also being probed by Rome prosecutors, will face questioning on Monday.
The prosecutors are also investigating Moggi and Giraudo for allegedly "detaining" a referee and his two assistants at the end of Juve's match against Reggina in November 4, 2004. The two are suspected of locking ref Gianluca Paparesta and two assistants in a changing room and berating them for having failed to "favour" Juve, which lost the match 2-1.
Rome prosecutors are meanwhile probing GEA World, the footballers' agency run by Moggi's son, for alleged use of "threats and violence" to coerce players and clubs into using the company's services and abuse of a "dominant position" on the market.
Prosecutors in Turin, Parma and Perugia are running separate investigations into other allegations of sporting fraud and illegal betting. Hours before the entire board of directors at Juventus board of directors resigned on Thursday, judicial sources confirmed that Giraudo was being probed in Turin for alleged 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 and cast a shadow over the 29th Serie A title the team is expected to pick up on Sunday. With a three-point advantage over AC Milan, the scudetto-holders just need a draw from Sunday's clash with Reggina to win the club's 29th Italian league title.
The champions could face the prospect of relegation to Serie B, among other penalties, if the allegations being levelled against them are proven. The hullabaloo raised by the front-page coverage of the scandal prompted widespread calls on Friday for a sweeping overhaul of Italian soccer.
Roma striker Francesco Totti, one of the country's most popular players, urged officials to "clean the slate."
"We've got to make some important decisions and start from scratch," he said.
FIGC Deputy Chairman Giancarlo Abete, who has been tasked with running the federation, said he agreed with politicians who are demanding a parliamentary inquiry on domestic soccer. It would be "positive to find out exactly what happened and would ensure the maximum transparency". "It's a terrible thing," said outgoing Premier and AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi.
Premier-elect Romano Prodi, whose government is expected to take office next week, suggested that outgoing Cabinet Undersecretary Gianni Letta be appointed to oversee FIGC. Letta, a former journalist and close aide of Berlusconi, is respected in the centre left for his consummate negotiating abilities.
