Juventus’ lawyers are ready to present the club’s defence in the ‘salary manoeuvre’ case, an investigation that could lead to a point penalty in Serie A.
The Old Lady have been accused of misleading the stock market, inflating player transfer values to falsify capital gains and having suspicious partnerships with other Italian clubs. A key aspect of this case is the accusation that the club secretly paid wages to players that they’d publicly stated would be waived.
Tuttosport details how the club’s lawyers must present their defensive briefs today before giving over the documents to Giuseppe Chiné and the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office, who will then have 15 days to examine the defence before deciding whether or not to refer the Bianconeri to court.
A long list of current and former Juventus executives have been notified, including Andrea Agnelli, Pavel Nedved, Fabio Paratici, Federico Cherubini, Cesare Gabasio, Giovanni Manna, Paolo Morganti and Stefano Braghin.
FIGC prosecutor Chiné believes that in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, Juventus deposited the agreements to suspend wages to Lega Serie A but did not register the secret agreements that saw them pay players three of the four months’ wages that were waived.
In effect, the accusation is that the club violated ‘the accounting principle of economic competence and the principle of par condicio with the other Serie A clubs.’
Juventus’ lawyers want to avoid going to trial should the charges be linked to Article 4 – related to sporting loyalty, which allows point deductions in the league – and instead are hoping to transform it to Article 31 – related to administrative offences, which only allow for a fine.
The Bianconeri could also try to set up a pre-trial plea bargain, which would allow them to half the penalty that would be imposed at trial.