Naples magistrates investigating Serie A's biggest ever scandal grilled several of Italian soccer's top names here Tuesday. Inter coach Roberto Mancini, AC Milan boss Carlo
Ancelotti, Milan Vice President and Italian Soccer League President Adriano Galliani, and the world's former top referee, Pierluigi Collina, were questioned as part of the probe into allegations of widespread match-fixing.
None are under investigation; prosecutors spoke to them as people "informed about the events".
The scandal revolves around allegations that former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi led a criminal group which 'piloted' the 2004-05 championship in his team's favour.
Prosecutors are investigating suspicions that they did this via a network of illicit relations with referee-appointers and referees.
On Monday they interrogated Moggi, who denied any wrongdoing, for over five hours.
Lazio and Fiorentina are also in the spotlight of the investigation into favours allegedly allocated by "the Moggi system", as is AC Milan, although to a lesser degree. "I think I gave precise, exhaustive answers to all the questions that the magistrates posed," said Galliani.
Moggi, former Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) chief Franco Carraro, nine referees and the chairmen of Fiorentina and Lazio are among the 41 people under judicial investigation.
Italian soccer's credibility has been trashed by the scandal and fans have been left wondering if other Serie A championships were conditioned by Moggi's alleged meddling in recent years. Carraro quit FIGC last week and was replaced Tuesday by
an emergency commissioner, Guido Rossi, who comes from outside the soccer world.
When asked if he would be the next to resign, Galliani replied: "The president of the League is not under investigation. The League is not the Federation". Mancini, one of the harshest critics of Moggi in recent days, limited himself to saying that he had "replied to all the questions asked" after his meeting.
Mancini's employer, Inter owner Massimo Moratti, was more forthright.
"It's like being (a lover) sick with jealousy, who realizes that the things he suspected are actually true," said Moratti, who has failed to win the Italian title during his time at the club despite spending a fortune on soccer stars.
"At Inter we have been saying this for many years. It's horrible to discover that it was not just rancour but everything was true.
"It's really bad for those who have thrown away money, hopes and passion. Not just me, the public too".
He was backed up by House Speaker Fausto Bertinotti, a member of the Communist Refoundation party and an AC Milan supporter. "The so-called 'man in the street' who said everything was fixed was right," Bertinotti said.
On Sunday Milan's owner, outgoing Premier Silvio Berlusconi, said his club should be awarded the title for the 2006 and 2005 seasons, when it came runner-up to Juve. Rome prosecutors have also been interviewing people from the game as part of their probe into GEA World, the footballers' agency run by Moggi's son Alessandro.
GEA is being investigated for alleged use of "threats and violence" to coerce players and clubs into using its services and abuse of a "dominant position" on the market. On Tuesday, Roman magistrates questioned AS Roma Vice President Rosella Sensi.
Over the last few days, they have also spoken to AC Milan and Italy defender Alessandro Nesta, a GEA client, and former Roma director of sport Franco Baldini. Sensi, Nesta and Baldini are not under investigation. Prosecutors in Naples, Rome, Turin, Parma, Udine and Reggio Calabria are probing various aspects of the scandal, which has been dubbed 'Calciopoli' (Soccerville) and 'Clean Feet' - a reference to the 'Clean Hands' or 'Bribesville' corruption scandals of the early 1990s, which swept away much of the political establishment of the day.
Part of the investigation concerns allegations of illegal betting by professional footballers.
Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is one of a number of players under investigation for this. 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.
On Tuesday Juventus appointed a new CEO after the whole board resigned as a result of the scandal last Thursday.
The club has been put in the hands of Carlo Sant' Alban, a financier and the CEO of IFIL, the Agnelli family holding company that owns 62% of Juve.
