Bucharest's highest court has ordered a retrial in the case of eight Romanian football officials who were sentenced to prison for tax evasion and money laundering in connection with the transfer of 12 players over a six-year period.
The court on Monday overturned ''in totality'' an appeals court sentencing in November when Rapid Bucharest chairman George Copos, Dinamo Bucharest executive chairman Cristi Borcea and agents Ioan Becali and Victor Becali were sentenced to between five and eight years. The officials all appealed.
The appeals court will now retry the case, which involves players who transferred from Dinamo, Rapid, Otelul Galati and Gloria Bistrita to foreign clubs from 1999 to 2005. Prosecutors said the state lost ?1.7 million ($2.16 million) in taxes and the clubs lost ?10 million ($12.8 million) because the officials registered fictitious sums in the books.
