Lazio, Roma and Salernitana are all under investigation by the Rome and Tivoli Public Prosecutor’s Office for allegedly inflating player transfer values to falsify capital gains.
Il Messaggero (via LazioNews24) details how all three clubs had their headquarters raided by the Guardia di Finanza – Italy’s financial police – yesterday to recover documents related to various transfers from 2017 to 2021, believing that some suspicious deals involved inflated transfer values.
The prosecutor in Tivoli is leading the investigation into Lazio and Salernitana and his counterpart in Rome is scrutinising Roma, meaning all three clubs are at risk of being handed penalties should wrongdoings be confirmed.
FIGC prosecutor Giuseppe Chine is keeping a close eye on the situation and is waiting for a complete picture before deciding upon a possible sporting trial, which could lead to sanctions relevant to this season.
Various directors from the three involved clubs are also under investigation, including Claudio Lotito, Igli Tare, Angelo Mariano Fabiani, Marco Moschini, Marco Cavaliere, Luciano Corradi and Ugo Marchetti.
Examples of suspicious deals include the swap between Luca Pellegrini and Leonardo Spinazzola between Roma and Juventus, and Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro’s €12.7m move from Salernitana to Lazio.
The Biancocelesti released a statement responding to the investigation, which can be found below.
“S.S. Lazio is a crystal house in which all documents are in place and always available to all authorities.
“We have always adhered, in our work, to a perspective of loyal and total cooperation and, therefore, any documentation requested of us would have been immediately delivered by us.
“In any case, we have the utmost respect for the Judiciary and we are therefore confident that we will quickly dispel any misunderstandings or doubts in relation to the disputed hypotheses.”