A new search of Juventus's offices
regarded the club's relationship with their former player,
Portugal and Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo, sources
said on Friday.
The Turin giants and several top officials, including Chairman
Andrea Agnelli and Vice-Chairman Pavel Nedved, are under
investigation in a criminal probe into player trades done
between 2019 and this year.
Ronaldo's transfer to Manchester United in the close season is
one of the moves the investigators are focusing on.
The investigators staged the new search after questioning
several club managers, summoned as witnesses, in recent days,
the sources said.
Juventus has said it is confident it respected the law in
relation to the transfers and added that it is cooperating with
investigators.
The club is accused of giving false financial communications and
issuing invoices for non-existent transactions.
Italian stock-market watchdog CONSOB is also looking into the
revenue it posted from player trades amid reports that the
values generated were inflated to make the club's balance sheets
look better.
In relation to Ronaldo, investigators in Turin are looking into
the possible existence of a "private" written agreement between
the player and the club.
This could affect the correctness of the 2021 balance sheet.
According to the transcript of a conversation on September 23
between a manager under investigation, Cesare Gabasio, and
another one interviewed as a witness, Federico Cherubini, one of
the participants allegedly said: "if these papers come out...
they'll be at our throats over the balance sheet".
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