The reasons behind the Federal Court’s decision to punish Lazio for their behaviour regarding the inconsistent Covid-19 tests case have been made public.
According to a report from Italian radio broadcaster Radiosei (via La Lazio Siamo Noi) earlier today, Cesare Mastrocola’s reasons for punishing the Biancocelesti for their conduct earlier this season have been made clear.
Lazio were fined €150,000, president Claudio Lotito was banned for 7 months, and doctors Ivo Pulcini and Fabio Rodia were banned for 12 months.
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The punishment was levied against the club because it was up to the Biancocelesti’s doctors to communicate the positive test results to the Local Health Authority, and not Synlab’s responsibility.
The suggestion is that Lazio did not “put in place the consequent communication measures suitable to activate the consequent activities to be carried out in close contact with the health authority.”
Ciro Immobile should have missed the Biancocelesti’s match against Torino, as well as Djavan Anderson, who also should have missed the match against Juventus and remained in isolation.
The Court also were concerned about the fact that Immobile, Thomas Strakosha and Lucas Leiva were allowed to train ahead of the Zenit match despite testing positive, although this charge was dropped as “the communication of the positive results were received at the end of training.”
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Regarding president Claudio Lotito, the Court’s position was that: “It does not seem that he [Lotito] can be charged with what is expressly contested in the referral and, so much so, even in the presence of his undeniable interest in the matter in question, since, in any case, it is not in any way demonstrated, nor contested, that in his capacity as president, Lotito has prevented the activation of the procedures.”
Lotito, however, “should have imposed a behaviour suitable to prohibit the positives from being able to re-enter the ranks of the team and impose on them the isolation foreseen.”
Lazio will have 30 days to present an appeal to the Federal Court and president Lotito is keen to either achieve an acquittal or at least a reduction in sentences.
