Moggi goes on offensive in scandal

Moggi goes on offensive in scandal

Published Apr. 13, 2010 6:15 p.m. ET

The four-year-old Italian match-fixing scandal could flare up again because of maneuvers by former Juventus executive Luciano Moggi in his criminal trial.

Italian media widely reported on Tuesday that defense lawyers for Moggi requested that 75 additional phone-tap conversations be admitted as evidence in the trial, and prosecutors did not oppose the move.

The additional phone-tap conversations - printed in Italian media over the last week - allegedly link Inter Milan and other clubs to the scandal.

"And it's not over now," Moggi said, pulling out phone-tap transcripts from a folder as he addressed the media after the court session, the ANSA news agency reported. "In the next hearings we will bring out other new conversations that involve Inter and AC Milan."

Inter was awarded the 2006 Serie A title after Juventus was stripped of the honor and relegated to Serie B due to its involvement in the scandal.

Former AC Milan coach and current Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti is scheduled to take the stand in the next hearing on April 20.

Italian football federation officials are awaiting developments in the Naples case as they consider opening a new investigation into the scandal.

The overall theme of Moggi's defense is that all the teams were in contact with refereeing officials.

In the purported conversations - printed in the Gazzetta dello Sport, as well as other papers - Inter president Massimo Moratti is heard talking with referee selector Paolo Bergamo about the match officials for an Italian Cup game that Inter went on to win 3-1 over Bologna in January 2005.

Moratti has rejected the new allegations as "ridiculous and shameful," while Bergamo maintains that he "always spoke regularly with all the club presidents."

Moratti has also signaled he would be willing to take the stand in the Naples trial.

Another former Juventus executive, Antonio Giraudo, already has received a three-year sentence from the Naples court on charges of criminal association aimed at committing sports fraud.

Moggi and Giraudo were banned from football for five years by a sports court for influencing the outcome of matches. They deny wrongdoing.

Juventus was stripped of its 2005 and '06 Serie A titles and relegated to the second division with a nine-point penalty. It immediately won promotion back to Serie A.

The scandal was the biggest corruption case in the history of Italian football. Besides Juventus, three other big clubs - AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina - were penalized, as were Reggina and Arezzo.

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