Palermo chief Salvatore Tuttolomondo continues to insist they will register for the Serie B season and pay outstanding player wages. “We were the victims of fraud.”
The Sicilians are in utter chaos after failing to hand over financial guarantees by the deadline to the Lega Serie B, claiming the broker who was meant to be working out the paperwork with a Bulgarian insurance company had defrauded them.
Palermo chief Salvatore Tuttolomondo continues to insist they will register for the Serie B season and pay outstanding player wages. “We were the victims of fraud.”
The Sicilians are in utter chaos after failing to hand over financial guarantees by the deadline to the Lega Serie B, claiming the broker who was meant to be working out the paperwork with a Bulgarian insurance company had defrauded them.
Even with the deadlines passed, player salaries and a €500,000 fine still all unpaid, financial director Tuttolomondo remains adamant it will all work out.
“Palermo will register for Serie B,” he told Tuttomercatoweb. “As for the financial guarantees, we were the victims of fraud and have taken legal action to defend ourselves.
“We said the wages had been paid because that was the situation at the time, then other things happened that were beyond our control. The money was there and it still is.
“Our first interest now is to prove our case to the Lega Serie B and the financial institutions, not to fans or the media. The money is there, we simply suspended payments as a mode of self-protection after realising the fraud with the broker.”
The players do not seem to accept this explanation, as they have officially started legal action to reclaim their missing wages.
“The team, like all creditors, will be satisfied. The first objective is to guarantee our registration for Serie B and there is still time for that, as there are several steps in the process.
“We are the owners of Palermo. We will fulfil all our obligations. The wages represent debts just like the others and we will pay all our creditors in the right way.
“The city of Palermo will have to change the way they perceive us and focus on the facts rather than idle chatter. Who says it has gone badly? Our behaviour has been immaculate. We were the victims of a crime.
“I want to remind everyone that we took on Palermo’s debts and deserve to be given more consideration, starting from the Mayor. We are absolutely confident Palermo will register for the Serie B season and so are our lawyers. If the application were to be rejected, we would immediately sue to freeze the ruling.”
There is even dissent within the club, because President Alessandro Albanese and vice-president Vincenzo Macaione resigned, openly criticising Tuttolomondo and the way he managed the situation.