The one big club that emerged unscathed from last season's huge Calciopoli match-fixing scandal, Inter Milan, has been stung by a probe into an older affair.
Inter won the 2007 scudetto thanks to a record-breaking run after being awarded the 2006 title because of Calciopoli.
Now there are suggestions it might have to give the earlier trophy back. Two soccer law experts contacted by ANSA said it was "possible" such a demand might be made - though there has so far been no official indication to that effect.
The body that monitors Italian clubs' finances, Covisoc, said Wednesday that Inter wouldn't have been able to join the 2005-2006 championship because of alleged financial irregularities.
Inter Chairman, billionaire oilman Massimo Moratti, said the allegations were "absurd".
"I spend millions of euros a day," he pointed out.
Inter, its cross-city rivals AC Milan and other clubs are currently under investigation because of alleged inflated transfer deals.
Earlier this year, Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) disciplinary officials singled out the case of one player, goalkeeper Simone Brunelli, who was allegedly swapped several times by Inter and Milan between 2002 and 2003.
Brunelli, 23, reportedly admitted his involvement in the affair.
Former Clean Hands hero Francesco Saverio Borrelli, now FIGC's prosecutor, began a disciplinary probe by focusing on goalie Brunelli and several other unidentified players.
All were traded by Inter and Milan at the end of the 2002-2003 season.
None of the players reportedly played for either club, instead being farmed out to minor outfits.
Judicial sources said this appeared to have been a widespread practice at a time when many clubs were having trouble making the money to stay afloat.
Lazio's former owner, disgraced ex-Cirio boss Sergio Cragnotti, is also implicated in the probe along with Franco Sensi, current boss of the other big Roman club, Roma.
Legal experts said club owners would fight the charges by pointing to the difficulty of placing a value on a player.
The cases looked set to run up against a newly shortened statute of limitations on balance-sheet fraud, they added.
Despite the fact that it predated Calciopoli and apparently did not involve similarly dirty tricks, news of the probe has still been a blow to Inter's image.
Moratti has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, saying "I have nothing to fear".
Milan Deputy Chairman Adriano Galliani told reporters that Milan had "never committed any crimes".
He contended that prosecutors would find it hard to prove that the clubs deliberately over-valued players because "clubs are free to put the value they see fit on a player".
Earlier this year Galliani served out a ban from the Calciopoli affair because it was reduced on appeal to a few months.
In the scandal, Italian soccer authorities docked AC Milan eight points at the start of last season - but it still went on to come fourth in the league in a late drive that saw it claim its seventh European Cup/Champions League trophy.
