BASTIA, France -- Bastia president Pierre-Marie Geronimi was arrested Tuesday as part of an investigation into possible financial misconduct.
The prosecutor's office in Bastia said investigators are trying to find out if Geronimi committed irregularities in payments he made to private companies not directly related to the club's finances.
In a statement posted on its website, Bastia denied any wrongdoing in the funding of a synthetic field that has been installed at the French league club's youth training ground and expressed its full support to Geronimi.
''The sums that are being paid by the club to its suppliers, particularly for minibus hire to transport the youngsters from the training center, are all justified,'' Bastia said.
French football has been rocked by a series of scandals recently, with police making several high-profile arrests as part of an investigation into the 2010 transfer of France international Andre-Pierre Gignac to Marseille and an operation against suspected match-fixing in the second division.
