Lazio owner jail term asked

| Wed, 11/19/2008 - 03:22

A Milan prosecutor told a Milan court on Tuesday that Lazio Chairman Claudio Lotito should be jailed for 20 months for alleged share-rigging.

Lotito and the club's second-biggest shareholder Roberto Mezzaroma formed an illicit syndicate to keep control of the club, prosecutor Laura Pedio told the court.

She asked for a 16-month term for Mezzaroma and 20,000-euro fines for both men.

The two men deny the charges.

A sentence is expected on January 14.

In the investigation, police searched the homes of both men as well as offices of Lazio, two of its creditor banks, Capitalia and Unicredit, and other firms linked to Lotito.

In Milan, prosecutors probed share-price rigging.

Lotito is accused of getting his business partner Mezzaroma to secretly acquire a 14.6% slice of the club so the chairman could fend off any challenge to his ownership thanks to a 30%-plus share.

By Italian law, a shareholder who goes over the 30% threshold is obliged to launch an initial public offering (IPO) - something which Lotito avoided through his secret pact with Mezzaroma, the prosecutor says.

In a separate case, allegedly involving ex-Lazio great Giorgio Chinaglia, the Neapolitan crime syndicate Camorra tried to buy the club in 2006 to use it for money laundering, police say.

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