After Juve, Inter Milan in turn targeted by an investigation
The club Nerazzurro, reigning Italian champion, specified “to have provided the required documentation relating to the transfers of certain players during seasons 2017/2018 and 2018/2019” at the request of the Milan public prosecutor’s office, which carried out searches in club headquarters.
As part of this “preliminary investigation”, the prosecution wishes “to verify the regularity of the recognition of capital gains” generated by these sales, explains Inter, ensuring that “the club’s balance sheets are drawn up in compliance with accounting principles the most rigorous “.
In addition to the Inter offices, the financial brigade of the Italian police recovered documents from the headquarters of the Italian Football League, also located in Milan, said the Milan prosecutor’s office, which opened this preliminary investigation against X for ” fraudulent communications “.
According to the Italian agency Ansa, the total amount of capital gains investigated by the courts amount to some 100 million euros over the two seasons concerned. They would relate to the sales of ten players.
These searches determined a little less than a month after those targeting Juventus, suspected of having communicated false information to investors and of having produced invoices for non-existent transactions, according to the Turin prosecutor’s office.
In the case of the bianconero club, the checks would relate to some 282 million euros in capital gains and several of its leaders, including President Andrea Agnelli, are directly targeted.
For several years, a number of observers have underlined the abuses of a legal practice, aiming to carry out “false exchanges”, that is to say cross-selling of players between two clubs. Little money is then paid by the clubs, but any capital gains can be recorded, making it possible to improve financial performance.
The Italian Federation, which recently launched its own investigation into the subject of capital gains, is itself considering measures to try to limit the abuses.