The second hearing by the Court of Turin in the Prisma investigation involving Juventus and many former Bianconeri directors started on Wednesday morning: here’s what happened and what to expect.
The first hearing on March 27 was postponed to May 10. The Bianconeri as a club and 12 of their former directors, including Pavel Nedved, Fabio Paratici and ex-President Andrea Agnelli have been recommended for trial.
So, what to expect today?
First and foremost, the judges will decide whether the trial will actually begin and who will be involved.
Agnelli and ex-Juventus directors are accused of falsifying the club’s balance sheets from 2018 until 2021 through inflated transfer values and secret salary agreements with players and staff members. They are also suspected of insider trading as Juventus are one of the few Serie A clubs listed on the stock exchange.
Wednesday’s hearing will also establish civil parties and whether the trial will be moved to Roma or Milan where according to Juventus lawyers some of the alleged wrongdoings were perpetrated. The headquarters of Italy’s stock exchange, in fact, is in Milan, while servers are in Rome.
According to Calcio&Finanza, Juventus lawyers demanded to exclude from civil parties some minority shareholders, the Italian Association of Consumers (CODACONS) and the Libian found Lafico who had made a request in the morning. Lafico is among Juventus’ minority shareholders.
The hearing was suspended in the late morning and will resume at 14:00 ITA time, 13:00 GMT+1.
This is a criminal investigation and won’t have consequences such as a point deduction for the Old Lady, which is something FIGC must determine with two different sporting trials.