Italian prosecutors have ordered a new search of the Juventus offices under an investigation into the Serie A club’s financial accounting and are also examining the terms of the sale of star player Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United.
Publishing a supplement to an investor document for a share issue on Thursday, Juventus reiterated on Friday that that they had always acted in compliance with existing laws and were fully collaborating with authorities.
Turin prosecutors said last week they were investigating the club and some of its senior managers, including chairman Andrea Agnelli and vice president Pavel Nedved, in a case centred around player transfers.
The prosecutors said they were checking whether Turin-based Juventus provided false communications to investors and issued invoices for transactions that never took place.
Italian financial police searched the club’s offices last week to seize documents relating to player transfers between 2019 and 2021.
The latest search mentioned in the investor document was carried out on Thursday, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Hit hard by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Juventus are seeking to raise €400 million ($A640 million) in cash by selling new shares to cut debt and repair the club finances.
Juventus said prosecutors were also looking at their financial statements for the first half of 2021 in relation to Ronaldo’s sale.
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
In August, Juventus reached an agreement to sell the Portuguese player to Manchester United for €23 million ($A37 million) , including €8 million ($A13 million) linked to the achievement of specific performance objectives.
Juventus said at the time the deal entailed a 14 million euro ($A22 million) hit on its results for the 2020-21 financial year, contributing to a record-high loss of €210 million ($A336 million).
A judicial source said prosecutors were checking the accuracy of figures in the club’s financial statement relating to the transaction after a wiretapped conversation between club officials mentioned a document that called into question the fairness of the accounting.
Lawyers for Juventus and its managers said the new search did not reflect new charges being investigated, adding the warrant mentioned a document which had yet to be found.
© AAP
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